Ireland-based biotech startup Cumulus Neuroscience raises $8.3M in funding to accelerate the development of life-changing CNS therapies for patients

Cumulus Neuroscience (formerly known as BrainWaveBank) is a Belfast, Ireland-based biotech startup developing faster and more effective tools to help solve the biggest healthcare challenges in neurodegeneration and psychiatry. Cumulus has created a next-generation integrated physiological and digital biomarker platform. In clinical trials, Cumulus provides the critical data and insights needed to accelerate the delivery of more effective Central nervous system agents (CNS) drugs to patients.

Today, Cumulus announced it has raised an $8.3 million (£6 million) financing round led by the Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF) joined by LifeArc, a medical research charity, and the UK Future Fund. Cumulus will use the funding proceeds to advance the next-generation integrated physiological and digital biomarker platform that provides clinical trial data and AI-powered insights, to accelerate the development of life-changing CNS therapies.

Founded in 2015, Cumulus’ platform has been developed to capture large amounts of real-world lab-quality data through time across multiple behavioural and physiological domains by tracking physiology, functions, and symptoms in the patient’s home. The platform also provides cutting-edge AI-based data analysis allowing it to provide the best and most cost-effective assessment of CNS treatment outcomes.

Cumulus Neuroscience draws on the support of its world-class Scientific and Technical Advisory Board and research partners to develop its cutting edge, integrated platform. Its research partners include a group of six of the leading pharmaceutical companies in CNS drug development

Cumulus Neuroscience’s CEO Ronan Cunningham commented: “We are delighted that DDF and LifeArc share our mission, addressing the clear need for more effective tools to provide the critical clinical trial data and analysis needed to improve the successful delivery of new CNS therapies to patients. This funding will allow us to build on the ground-breaking advances we have made in remote, frequent monitoring of brain activity and cognitive function in the home, in partnership with leading developers of digital biomarkers. We believe our integrated next-generation platform can improve the execution of clinical trials by yielding significant time and cost savings, adding meaningful value to the next generation of CNS therapies.”

Cumulus Neuroscience’s platform also provides cutting-edge AI-based data analysis allowing it to detect subtle but therapeutically relevant changes in patients, to generate fast and meaningful insights and to provide the best and most cost-effective assessment of CNS treatment outcomes.

“Clinical trials in dementia are difficult and the results have been largely disappointing, partly due to the limitations of clinical trial methodology. My colleagues in the DDF and a group of Pharma companies and I have spent over a year working together on how to measure disease progression and the effects of drugs better. The result is Cumulus Neuroscience, and we look forward to seeing how this enabling platform technology can be used in dementia clinical studies in the coming years, including those being run by DDF portfolio companies. If the platform is successful, then patients will benefit from better drugs sooner,” Ruth McKernan DDF venture partner and co-founder said.

Melanie Lee Chief Executive Officer from LifeArc said “LifeArc is pleased to invest in Cumulus Neurosciences’ platform, which we believe has strong potential to accelerate the development of life-changing CNS therapies, addressing an area of significant unmet patient need. This investment aligns with LifeArc’s interest in the power of the combination of data, AI and devices in healthcare.”