Omniscient Neurotechnology Raises $40 Million in Series B Financing

Omniscient Neurotechnology (o8t), a brain mapping technology company, has completed an AUD 40 million Series B financing round. The funding was led by family offices and high-net worth individuals, including Hancock Prospecting Executive Chairman  Gina Rinehart, and prominent fund manager Will Vicars.
 
Using innovations in medical imaging and machine learning, Omniscient builds applications capable of modelling and analyzing connectomes or brain networks that are formed by the electrical connections within an individual’s brain. This technology transforms complex brain data into clear insight for doctors, psychologists, neuroscientists and brain technology innovators to better treat neurological disorders and mental illnesses.

“We are delighted to have such strong support from our outstanding investors,” said Stephen Scheeler, CEO of Omniscient Neurotechnology. “This investment will allow us to advance our research and expand our portfolio of medical device and research solutions, which will transform the lives of the millions who suffer from brain-related disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, depression, chronic pain, and brain cancer.”
 
Omniscient is a global leader in the groundbreaking field of connectomics, a global interdisciplinary effort to study brain connectivity which has helped identify and understand individual brain networks responsible for functions such as language, emotion, and cognition. The closing of this financing round represents a transition from breakthrough neuroscience to real-world applications.
 
The funding will allow Omniscient to accelerate its research and product portfolio, and expand its science, engineering, and sales teams globally. Additionally, the company will expand market access to its research platform, Infinitome, and its neurosurgical planning platform, Quicktome, which recently received U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance.
 
“If you look at a brain scan today, many disorders such as depression are invisible—there’s nothing physically there to see,” said Omniscient Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Michael Sughrue. “Observing the brain’s connections tells a very different story. Brain surgery is where we wanted to start, because neurosurgeons have an urgent need for brain mapping to guide surgical decisions. Our software processes MRI scans to provide a detailed map of an individual’s brain networks, specifically tailored to each patient.”
 
Prior to founding Omniscient Neurotechnology, Sughrue was one of the most prolific neurosurgeons in the United States, having performed more than 3,000 brain tumor surgeries. His collaboration with Dr. Stephane Doyen, a Cambridge-trained neuroscientist and prominent leader in data science, led to the creation of the first commercial platform to harness connectomics.
 
“Omniscient is at the forefront of advancing brain connectomics. The brain is the most challenging big data problem there is, and probably the most important of our generation,” said Doyen, co-founder and chief data scientist at Omniscient Neurotechnology. “I am excited that our team proven its ability to deliver revolutionary platforms in neurosurgery and look forward to advancing new products to improve the lives of patients worldwide.”
 
“We see Omniscient as the clear leader in this nascent field of brain connectomics,” said Will Vicars. “The progress made by Stephen and the team in the last few months have been incredible, and we look forward to their continued growth across a broad range of different areas from depression to brain surgery.”
 
Omniscient Neurotechnology uses innovations in medical imaging and machine learning to build applications capable of mapping and analyzing “brain networks” that are formed by the electrical connections within a person’s brain. Such insights are illuminating the neural processes that make us human and helping clinicians and researchers understand, diagnose, and treat complex neurological and mental illnesses. A leader in the field of “connectomics”—the study of the brain’s connections—the company launched Quicktome, the world’s first medical device to harness this vital data for neurological care, providing neurosurgeons brain network information prior to life-changing surgery. The company is headquartered in Sydney, Australia, with offices globally. 
 
Quicktome is a digital brain mapping platform that allows neurosurgeons to visualize and understand a patient’s brain networks prior to performing life-changing brain surgery. These brain networks are responsible for everything from language to movement to thought, and brain maps help inform surgical decision-making to preserve and protect them. Quicktome analyzes millions of data points derived from a patient’s MRI. Designed by neurosurgeons and data scientists, the majority of the analysis takes place in the cloud and can be accessed easily on a desktop computer, allowing neurosurgeons and other healthcare professionals to focus on surgery. The launch of Quicktome is a milestone that combines decades of connectomics research, the study of brain connections, with cutting-edge algorithms and cloud computing. Quicktome recently received regulatory clearance in the United States, Canada, and Australia.
 
Infinitome is a next generation neuro research platform that enables groundbreaking data and image analysis of the brain without the need for code. In a single platform, Infinitome conducts sophisticated image and data processing of a subject’s brain MRI. It then uses machine learning to analyze each region of their brain and how they wire and function together. This enables researchers to quickly identify patterns and regions of anomaly when investigating neurological and mental illnesses.