Genesis Invests in New Tech Startup, Cervelio
Meet Cervelio, a company revolutionizing the way we listen to music and the newest addition to The Genesis Program’s portfolio.
The Founder
When I first met Eric Menees, founder and CEO of Cervelio, I was immediately impressed by his drive and embodiment of the entrepreneurial spirit. As a senior undergraduate student, Eric had a vision to combine his passions for music and neuroscience. To make this vision a reality, Eric travelled to the European Innovation Academy in Turin, Italy, where he assembled a diverse and talented team. With backgrounds ranging from embedded systems to neuroscience to machine learning, the Cervelio team placed first out of 54 startups at the academy and has continued to make significant hardware and software advancements.
Triple majoring in mechanical engineering, neuroscience, and biochemistry; Eric plans to work on Cervelio full time after graduation.
Cervelio
Cervelio’s mission is to contextualize human emotions within a mobile setting by utilizing real time biometric data to customize a user’s immediate environment. Their flagship product is a music matching service that pairs music choices with the user’s detected emotional state. Cervelio is designing a pair of wireless Bluetooth earbuds that detect brain waves, algorithms to process this biometric data into useful insights, and a companion phone application to provide a user-friendly interface.
The utilization of electroencephalogram (EEG) technology for detecting valuable biofeedback data has been proven to work through past academic research. Cervelio wants to deliver this capability directly to consumers in a friendly form-factor. While other ventures have successfully created EEG headphones, Cervelio is different in its ability to immediately process this collected data into meaningful trends. Cervelio plans to use the earbud technology as a launching pad into other media after they further refine and adapt their software to meet customer needs. Cervelio hopes to expand into the virtual and augmented reality spaces and has already begun some initial tests with the Microsoft HoloLens team.
Why I Led The Deal
Eric dreams big. Having worked on several startups in the past, he has developed the tools necessary to drive a venture forward. Having worked with Eric for a while now, it has become apparent that he’s always hungry for more. The biotech space is a booming field and Cervelio is well on its way to crafting its niche in the marketplace.
I’m excited to continue working with Eric and his team, and look forward to their future successes.
The Genesis Program helps students turn their ideas into reality by providing access to funding and mentorship. We are a student-run fund that invests in ventures at the University of Texas at Austin
