(1) Describe your startup.
NURO specializes in Neurotechnology and is the architect of the NUOS platform, a set of products which allows Communication and Computing by Brain. Instantly and without any surgery.
(2) What inspired the creation of the startup?
Two key events: first my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and I was shocked as to how that process took place and then a critical accident which happened to me where a part of my right hand was suddenly amputated, followed by seven reconstructive surgeries and narcotics which almost killed me. Once I eventually managed to get back to life, I realized that none of the current operating systems had ever been architected for people with incapacitation and that the available assistive technologies were failing with several pathophysiologies so this was the point when I knew my professional experience in Enterprise Tech could be applied and how eventually I thought the brain ought to be the source for a new dimension in communication and computing.
(3) What differentiates your startup from the competition?
Well, most probably know of Elon Musk and Neuralink. I have a deep respect for what Elon has achieved and certainly understand the significance of what Neuralink is building. That said, there are possibly extremely serious risks in piercing the brain and inserting and leaving there a foreign object. I can relate to that personally as my mother also passed away from a brain surgery so, from my perspective, non-invasive technology is not only a safer approach but we have also proven that it works on human beings including some of the most incapacitated patients in the World. Invasive technology has its place for certain applications but, as far as communication goes from non-communicating patients, I see absolutely no reason why anyone would want to take such risk.
(4) Who is the target market?
With our current product line, patients in various states of akinetic mutism from Stroke, Trauma, Neurodegeneration and some Prolonged Disorders of Consciousness. Individuals like you and I who suddenly or progressively have become “touchless and voiceless” and who are no longer able to communicate with their loved ones, their medical staff and professional caregivers.
(5) How did you grow your presence in your target market?
Simply by demonstrating that what we do is absolutely real, not magic nor science fiction. Videos have also a way to sometimes express a lot more than words and we have amazing content from that perspective.
(6) What stage are you at?
Commercial now in some jurisdictions and in Clinical Trials in some other ones. From a regulatory perspective so far, we are Health Canada cleared, have received clearance from an American IRB by full committee with chair concurrence for Research on Human Subjects and have also been cleared by the US FDA under Expanded Access for Compassionate Use. We expect to continue such process both here and in other jurisdictions around the World.
(7) What are some of the biggest challenges that your startup has had to overcome?
Probably the biggest one was to prove that Non-Invasive Communication by Brain was in fact feasible. After that, it can be summarized between people not believing that we have achieved it as a start-up with very conservative funding so far and more importantly getting to non-communicating patients in the midst of an outrageous pandemic which is impacting the Healthcare system worldwide.
(8) What is next for the startup?
We are focusing on three items at this time: Clinical Trials (with top clinical partners), Commercialization (in some jurisdictions) and our on-going Series A which we have announced a few weeks ago.
(9) Where would you like to be in the next 5 years?
So far, we are establishing NURO as the global leader in Non-Invasive Communication by Brain. This is intrinsically achieved by computing and with a foundation for Artificial Intelligence to process neurological signals as well so this means that our technology can be used or integrated in other arenas which we might enter as well. As we continue our journey, we might certainly consider some alliances or licensing opportunities in various industries but we will determine such opportunities on a per case basis.
(10) If you had to give one piece of advice to an up-and-coming startup what would it be?
Broaden your network, get into the best accelerators relevant to your industry and deliver beyond expectations.
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