Leading Family Offices Pick Up Stakes In Neuroscience Startup NeuroLeap

Brain enhancement and mental health startup NeuroLeap has raked in an undisclosed amount of funding from Rajashree Birla, chairperson, Aditya Birla centre for community initiatives and rural development, Sminu Jindal, MD, Jindal Saw, and founder chairperson, Svayam.

The neuroscience company uses advanced brain computer interface (BCI) technology to safely understand brain activity and help it perform at optimum potential. “Ours is a complete non-invasive technology, without using any medication and with zero side effects,” said founder of NeuroLeap, Kumaar Bagrodia, while talking to Inc42.

Based in Bengaluru, the company currently has centres in Mumbai and New Delhi. With the newly infused capital, it plans to expand to other metros and big cities. “We are happy to be backed by India’s big families as our investors. This is going to motivate us to go in for expansion. We also plan to develop different programmes for our clients and focus on marketing,” Bagrodia added.

NeuroLeap delivers brain enhancement for various areas like attention, executive function, calmness, sleep, memory and emotional health for people, across age groups, who may or may not have any mental disorders. It has also been treating people with severe mental health conditions such as anxiety, clinical depression, insomnia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, autism, addiction, eating disorders, migraine and tinnitus, among others.

“Congratulations to Kumaar Bagrodia for fronting NeuroLeap; it is indeed cutting edge. I believe NeuroLeap will help fill in the void, provide relief pan India. I wish Kumaar every success every step of the way,” said Birla in a press statement released by NeuroLeap.

The science that the company uses is evidence based and the technology is backed by NASA, DARPA, the US Army, Navy, Airforce and US National Institute of Health. NeuroLeap has now developed India specific knowhow across different mental health disorders.

“NeuroLeap is successfully delivering better brain outcomes. I’m happy to invest in the venture which is leveraging innovative technology for a more advanced way to understand the brain and safely enhance it without pharma or medical interventions,” added Jindal in the statement.

Few Heatlhtech Startups In India Focus On Mental Health

A WHO study expects 20% of the Indian population to be affected by next year and an ASSOCHAM survey shows that 42.5% of corporate employees in India suffer from depression or general anxiety. Mental health still seems to be a taboo subject in India and fewer startups are working towards it.

The fitness market in India is valued at $3 Bn and is said to be growing at 18%, though only 4% of the market comprises of organised gym chains.Only few startups such as Cure.fit vertical Mind.fit, Yourper and Headspace are focussing on mental wellness as well.

“One of the reasons people don’t come out and speak about mental illness is that the solution offered to the same is only medication. People don’t want to be stuck with medication forever, especially when they have so many side effects. This is where we come in. We offer easy ways to combat the same, without any medication,” said Bagrodia.

“We are looking at larger mental health market in India. We are not only looking at people who have a mental illness, we will be focusing on general mental health. If you walk into any workspace today, you will meet a lot of people under work stress. We want to focus on people who want to deal with stress in a better way and lead a better life along with brain enhancement,” he added.