Flow Neuroscience, the creator of what is currently Europe’s only medically approved transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) device and behavioural therapy app for depression, has closed a US$9.3 million, oversubscribed Series A funding round led by Khosla Ventures, CSS group through Swiss Health Ventures, and Zühlke Ventures.
This investment will be used to advance Flow’s existing depression treatment, making it more patient-specific, and will accelerate the development of non-pharmaceutical, self-managed solutions for other mental health disorders, such as anxiety, as well as accelerating its US expansion through clinical trials and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval.
The planned expansion follows Flow’s success in treating patients across the UK and EU for the past two years, according to a company press release, with its unique headset that delivers gentle stimulation using tDCS to combat depression. The investment round will enable the company to strengthen its offering to the European market, servicing patients in their native language, as well as preparing for US market entry.
Global investors have come together to support Flow’s endeavour to branch out internationally. Led by Khosla Ventures, CSS Group through Swiss Health Ventures and Zühlke Ventures, the round was also joined by Kirin Holdings through the Kirin health innovation fund—led by Global Brain, a venture capital based in Japan—SOSV’s HAX, as well as San Francisco-based patent firm Schox.
These cross-continental participants will fuel Flow Neuroscience’s core mission to create innovative treatments for mental health disorders that have no side-effects, are easily accessible and empower patients and clinicians, the release adds. The investment from Khosla Ventures, alongside Global Brain and Kirin holdings, will enable Flow to expand its treatment to the USA and the Asia-Pacific region, funding clinical trials that will pave the way for market access to patients and clinicians.
Daniel Månsson, clinical psychologist and co-founder of Flow Neuroscience, said: “With accessibility at the forefront, we have a three-fold mission at Flow over the coming years; to advance our current treatment to be more patient-specific and to treat more people suffering from depression; to accelerate our collaboration with healthcare systems to provide alternative options for clinicians to prescribe and a complementary solution to reduce waiting times; and to work in collaboration with researchers in the field of tDCS to validate further self-managed treatment solutions for a wider range of mental health disorders, such as anxiety.”
