Confirming its innovative and transformative model for detecting and assessing neurological and psychological conditions, Modality.AI's original venture backers doubled down to close a $3.6M seed round, which includes four new investors as well.

In addition, the mission-driven startup -- whose team has published 58 scientific papers and been invited to present at global scientific and biotech conferences -- received $2.7M grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Michael J. Fox Foundation, among others, for a total of $6.3M of funding.

Modality.AI has pioneered self-driven analysis of speech and gestures for early detection, assessment and monitoring of neurological and psychiatric conditions using a virtual agent, Tina.

David Suendermann-Oeft, Founder and CEO of Modality.AI, cites several factors led to the success of this round of funding despite current difficult economic conditions. “First, we are the only commercial technology for assessing neurological and psychiatric conditions remotely through AI-powered audio and visual measurements of patient conversations with a virtual agent. The reason we describe this process as self-driving is that patients and clinical trial study participants can easily initiate an assessment by talking with Tina, our virtual agent - in the comfort and privacy of their home.

“Second, we have developed this complex, multimodal technology with a team of AI/machine learning experts and natural language scientists, who collaborate with clinicians at leading medical research institutions throughout the world. The team has published 58 scientific papers and regularly presents at leading global science conferences on speech and neurological disorders.”

CMO Added to Executive Team

In addition, the company continues to expand its clinical and scientific leadership, with the hiring of Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ira Shoulson, a leader in clinical research focused on Parkinson’s disease, with over 350 scientific publications, and an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Shoulson’s clinically validated PROP™ -- which analyzes verbatim descriptions of the problems patients face, including their functioning, priorities, and symptoms, was acquired by Modality.AI in 2022.

Modality Investor Comments

“Modality's brilliant engineering and design team, under the leadership of David Suendermann-Oeft, has achieved excellent progress both on the commercial front as well as with a growing investor base. During these difficult financial times, we are committed to supporting our portfolio companies that not only deliver but also exceed their plans, as has been demonstrated by the Modality team.” Wim Van Criekinge, Co-Founder, Novalis Fund

“Modality’s technology and lead on multi-modality digital biomarkers for neurological and psychiatric conditions is cutting edge, and their ability to enable self-driven remote assessments is unique in the marketplace. They will help make critical care more accessible, faster, more convenient, and more affordable,” said Jeff Eggers, Managing Director of Risk & Return

Concludes the Modality CEO, “Furthermore, by integrating what patients say with how they say it and how they behave, the utility of this new breed of digital biomarkers for the development of new therapeutics by the pharmaceutical and biotech industry is exponential.”

References

Modality publications: https://modality.ai/publications

NIH/MGH study: https://modality.ai/news/modality-nih-mgh

Dr Ira Shoulson: https://modality.ai/news/ira-shoulson-md-cmo

For more information, contact:

David Fox, Chief Business Officer

Modality.AI

david.fox@modality.ai