Using neuroscience to make weight loss easier

by Startacus Admin

Meet neuroscience-based headset Modius, the innovative headset by Neurovalens that is using neurotechnology to help solve key health problems and make weight loss easier.

At some point in our lives, 87% of us will try to lose weight. We made that up, but it’s definitely probably a highish number. Whether our reasons for weight loss are health-related or otherwise, the problem we all have is maintaining a balanced diet. Most people ‘go on’ a diet rather than permanently changing their diet, after which they go right back to where they were. 

The main problem with maintaining that balance is staving off the cravings, particularly when we’re stressed. Until now, there hasn’t been much we can do about those except use willpower.

Belfast-based medtech startup Neurovalens is addressing this issue with its innovative neuroscience-based headset, Modius.

Based on over 50 years of academic research, Modius is a non-invasive technology that uses neurostimulation to help you to feel fuller, faster; decrease your appetite; and reduce those diet-breaking cravings. It does this by connecting to a sticky pad that you put on the nerve behind your ear and pulsing. That’s it. Well, science is happening, but that’s it as far as the user is concerned. You may not even feel the pulse or the tingling that some do.

The companion app allows you to control the headset’s levels, log your weight, track your progress, and stay motivated with 24/7 access to the Modius Life community, which is already over 7,000-strong.

While the Modius is expected to be approved as a medical device in the next year or so, in one of the largest Series A funding rounds by a Northern Irish tech company, Neurovalens recently secured £4.6m in equity from investors such as Wharton Asset Management and Techstart Ventures. Back in 2017 they also raised £1.1m.

This investment will allow for further medical trials in the areas of obesity and Type 2 diabetes and will also support the company’s wider research into issues such as insomnia, mental health, and epilepsy. 

In 2018, Neurovalens was named Weight Management Product of the Year by Randox, Start-up Entrepreneur of the Year by Barclays, and Digital DNA Startup of the Year. In the same year, it won the Eagle Labs Innovation Award, CES Innovation Award, and Best New Innovation at the Yahoo Sports Technology Awards. Phew. 

These are just a handful of the startup’s accolades from that one year, but we’re confident you get the idea - Neurovalens is one to keep a close eye on.

NI startup? Entries are now open for upSTART, Northern Ireland’s most exciting startup pitch competition which features an all-expenses paid trip to explore the New York tech scene for the winner.

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Published on: 24th March 2019