Ybrain, a Korean startup that makes wearables for Alzheimer’s patients, announced today that it has raised $3.5 million in Series A funding led by Stonebridge Capital, bringing its total raised so far to $4.2 million. Co-founder Seungyeon Kim said that the money will be used for clinical trials and the manufacturing of its wearable devices. The company was founded in 2013 by Kyongsik Yun, a neuroscientist who trained at the California Institute of Technology, and engineers from Samsung.
Korean companies are reaching out beyond the mobile realm. That fact is evidenced by the $3.5 million in Series A funding raised by Ybrain today, which will be used to build new products and expand the company’s internal team. The health care wearables startup has clinical trials in the works for various neurological disorders. The Ybrain is actually a wearable that’s brain signal-based. It’s currently working on a big data platform that compiles brain signal data collected from its devices. Ybrain plans to use this data to provide more intuitive and personalized treatments — as well as to specialize in creating products for patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Stonebridge Capital led the round, bringing the total capital raised by Ybrain to $4.2 million. It previously raised $643,000 in a seed funding round from an undisclosed investor. The Seoul-based company was founded in February 2013 and is led by CEO Kyongsik Yun, a Caltech neuroscientist. The team is also made up of engineers from Samsung.