Neurotech startup Augmental raises a $4M seed round

Neurotech startup Augmental has raised a $4m seed round to commercialize their wearable interface for people living with motor impairment and limited hand function.

The “MouthPad” offers an unprecedented and convenient alternative to a brain-computer interface, or BCI, that circumvents the need for brain surgery by enabling users to control a mouse cursor using their tongue, breaths, head gestures, and soon, voice.

It’s the brainchild of two engineers, Tomás Vega and Corten Singer, who met as undergraduates at Berkeley and reunited in Cambridge to found the company at the tail end of Vega’s graduate work at MIT in 2019. Over the pandemic, they formed Augmental and relocated to San Francisco, where they recently upgraded their garage-based R&D hub for a new office space that includes a clean room for commercial-grade manufacturing and distribution.

Augmental’s users who can move their head and neck can use head-tracking for cursor control, and perform clicks and other gestures with tongue movements. Those with more limited mobility can use tongue gestures alone for cursor control, clicks, swipes, etc.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/naveenrao/2024/10/23/is-the-future-of-bci-right-under-our-nose/