YBrain Raises $3.5 Mil to Monitor Brain Activity Through Wearable Headband

September 26, 2014
Written By Wearables.com

YBrain, a wearable technology company out of South Korea, has developed a wearable headband that helps Alzheimer’s disease patients. With many experts predicting that the disease is more than ten years away from being treated, solutions and aid from companies like YBrain can significantly help patients afflicted with the disease, making the most recent round of funding of $3.5 million from Stonebridge Capital an amazing move forward for the young company.

Source: YBrain.com

While only starting out a year ago, YBrain has made leaps and bounds for both the healthy and impaired. The company is currently in the middle of carrying out clinical trials with Samsung Medical Center in Korea, hoping to bring their wearable to more patients. According to co-founder Seungyeon Kim, the clinical trials are showing a 20-30% improvement over oral medications, making treatment for the disease that much more realistic. Additionally, the company has begun building a big data platform that uses brain signals from their own devices, to further help patients by creating more personalized and targeted treatments and services.

The company was originally started by CalTech neuroscientist Kyongsik Yun and engineers from Samsung. The wearable headband works by sending out electronic signals at 2 mili-amperes from two sensors embedded in the front, that stimulate brain activity to counteract the deterioration that is onset by Alzheimer’s.

Once the device has finished going through FDA trials in the U.S. and in Korea, YBrain plans on making the device available for purchase for personal use through an online store, as well as through hospitals.