Why We Invested in Cognixion
Unlocking the cognitive capacity of millions of individuals
Communication is one of our most treasured abilities as humans. It allows us to express so many things — social, intellectual, and emotional. It is one of the reasons that disruptions in communication, whether developmental or through disease and injury are so traumatic to us. One only needs to look at Stephen Hawking, who lived more than 50 years with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), surviving to the age of 76. He is regarded as one of the greatest minds in theoretical physics. How deprived of his brilliance would the world have been if a special purpose assisted communication device had not been designed specifically for him? How many others with a communication disorder — whether through stroke, injury, disease, or disability— have a similar cognitive capacity that is just waiting to be liberated? Millions and millions.
That is why we at Prime Movers Lab are excited to lead a $12 million Series Seed 2 round in “assisted reality” startup Cognixion. The company’s artificial intelligence (AI) powered neural interfaces have the potential to unlock speech for tens of millions of people worldwide with speech disabilities. We believe that this is the right team and technology to empower millions of people through a seamless user interface and cutting-edge AI.
They have built a neurotechnology platform that delivers “assisted reality” using a completely non-invasive brain-computer interface. The device measures changes in brain activity and head gaze combined with an AI-driven language system that will be individualized to the user and contextualized to situations to help users communicate. The concept of a “heads up” device where the user can converse more naturally is so critical to conversation. Getting to know Cognixion’s “Brainiac Council” and seeing the device in action with users is incredibly impactful, and gives one a sense of how transformative this technology could be to the millions with speech disabilities and their families.
Cognixion’s patented wireless brain-computer interface, Cognixion ONE, optimizes the signals from the user’s brainwaves and can be fitted to any head shape. By reading brain signals, the wearable device detects users’ visual attention toward an object and converts it into intended speech in the augmented reality application. In addition to Cognixion ONE, the company’s machine learning algorithms and an AI-powered language system that adapt to the nuances of each user are game-changing for assisted communication.
Cognixion boasts an incredible team who are not only experts in their field but are also committed to improving the lives of millions with speech disabilities. CEO Andreas Forsland envisioned and grew remarkable design teams at Citrix, Philips Electronics, Progressive Insurance, and IBM, pioneering innovative solutions that have disrupted markets and created new categories across consumer digital lifestyles, mobile communication, and healthcare. Cognixion has already won the prestigious Roddenberry Prize, the Gold Edison Award for Social Impact, the Global Elevate Award and the Singularity University Global Grand Challenge for Education for its potential to impact over a billion lives.
One of the biggest insights I had during the diligence process was framed in the context of closed captioning. Closed captioning was initially deployed in the 1970s for deaf and hard of hearing viewers — but has become so ubiquitous that now 80% of closed captioning users engage with it for reasons beyond accessibility. It felt like we were at that same moment here. By liberating the cognitive capacity of millions of individuals with communication challenges — we will end up creating cognitive technologies that have the potential to impact billions of minds. We are incredibly excited to partner with Andreas and his team as they work to transform those minds and lives.
Prime Movers Lab invests in breakthrough scientific startups founded by Prime Movers, the inventors who transform billions of lives. We invest in companies reinventing energy, transportation, infrastructure, manufacturing, human augmentation, and agriculture.
Sign up here if you are not already subscribed to our blog.
