23 March 2023 - - US-based neurotechnology company Cognito Therapeutics has closed a USD 73m series B financing round led by FoundersX Ventures with participation from all existing investors, the company said.

New investors Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, Starbloom Capital, IAG Capital and WS Investment Company (Wilson Sonsini's venture arm) joined the round. The series B funding brings the total amount raised since inception to USD 93m.

In addition to the financing, Dr. Rick Kuntz, MD, MSc, former senior vice president, Chief Medical and Scientific officer of Medtronic and Helen Liang, Founder & Managing Partner at FoundersX, will join Cognito's board of directors.

Dr. Kuntz spent 17 years at Medtronic, where he initially led the company's neuromodulation business and then corporate technology and clinical research.

Prior to Medtronic, he was the founder and chief scientific officer of the Harvard Clinical Research Institute, now the Baim Institute, a university-based contract research organization which coordinates National Institutes of Health and industry clinical trials with the US Food and Drug Administration.

The funding will advance Cognito's pivotal study of its non-invasive neuromodulation device, which delivers proprietary gamma frequency light and sound stimulation intended to treat Alzheimer's Disease. In a prior Phase 2 clinical trial, Cognito's device demonstrated a significant slowing in functional and cognitive decline in the treatment group, as well as a significant decline in brain atrophy over a six-month period.

To further demonstrate the efficacy of the device, Cognito is currently enrolling patients in its pivotal clinical trial HOPE for Alzheimer's Disease, across approximately 50 clinical centers in the United States with a target enrollment of 500 patients.

Cognito's device is limited by United States law to investigational use only and is not available for sale.

Cognito Therapeutics is a clinical-stage neurotechnology company developing disease-modifying therapeutic approaches to treat neurodegenerative disorders. Its non-invasive neuromodulation platform was developed by MIT Professors and scientific founders Li-Huei Tsai and Ed Boyden.

The company's lead therapy is currently in a pivotal study in Alzheimer's Disease and was awarded FDA Breakthrough Device Designation. Cognito is based in Cambridge, MA.