University College Cork (UCC) spin-out NeuroBell has secured €4.8 million in funding to accelerate the launch of its AI-powered neonatal brain monitor, LUNA, as the company prepares to enter the US market.

The investment round was led by Elkstone, with participation from US health system Parkview Health. Existing investors – Furthr VC, Atlantic Bridge, MedTech Syndicate and Enterprise Ireland – also participated in the round. The latest investment will support NeuroBell as it prepares for US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance and expansion into the US market.

Following years of research through the Irish Centre for Maternal and Child Health Research (INFANT), NeuroBell spun out from UCC in January 2024 after a €2.1 million investment round. The company is developing technology to improve the detection of seizures in newborn babies receiving care in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), which is crucial for early intervention in brain injury cases like epilepsy and cerebral palsy.

Portable, user-friendly

Neonatal seizures are the most common neurological emergency in newborns, often occurring silently and going undetected by clinical observation alone. Continuous EEG is the gold standard for diagnosis but requires costly infrastructure and round-the-clock specialist interpretation, which are not universally available in NICUs. Delayed treatment results in prolonged seizures, and potential long-term developmental impacts. NeuroBell has developed a portable, user-friendly, and clinically validated EEG solution to bridge this gap.

LUNA is a pocket-sized, wireless brain monitor that combines electroencephalography (EEG) with artificial intelligence to support earlier detection of neonatal seizures. The device is designed to make clinical-grade brain monitoring more accessible, particularly in hospitals where specialist neurophysiology expertise may not always be available.

Commenting on the new funding, NeuroBell CEO and co-founder, Dr Mark O’Sullivan, said: “LUNA exists to put clinical-grade brain monitoring in the hands of every NICU team, wherever they are. This investment gives us the resources to scale that vision to patients in the US and across Europe.”