Last Updated: 16 July 2026
Hemispheric, a startup using artificial intelligence to decode brain activity, has emerged from stealth mode with $52 million in early-stage funding. The company was co-founded by computational neuroscientist Hagai Lalazar, PhD, and Gidi Littwin, who previously co-founded RealFace, a facial recognition company that was acquired by Apple and later integrated into FaceID. Hemispheric's goal is to make non-invasive brain measurement as routine as a blood test.
Today, the brain is one of the last major organs without an objective diagnostic tool. Conditions like depression, PTSD, Parkinson's disease, and early cognitive decline are still diagnosed primarily through questionnaires and behavioral observation. There is no brain equivalent of a cholesterol panel. According to the World Economic Forum, brain health disorders cost the global economy an estimated $5 trillion per year, and that number is expected to rise as populations age. Investor interest in this space is growing. The global AI in neurology market, valued at roughly $760 million in 2025, is projected to grow at about 25% annually through the early 2030s.
The $52 million round includes backing from Hanaco Ventures, OneMind/Awareness Capital, Protocol Labs, L Catterton, Arkin Capital, Howard Morgan, Naomi Azrieli, Yasmin Lukatz, and Scott Belsky, among others.
Most areas of medicine have reliable, quantitative tests. Cardiologists use ECGs. Radiologists use advanced imaging. But neurologists and psychiatrists still depend heavily on subjective assessments. A person reporting symptoms of depression, for example, will typically fill out a standardized questionnaire. Treatment is then selected through trial and error, which can mean long delays before patients find something that works.
"Hemispheric is doing for the brain what genomics did for cancer: turning something historically unmeasurable into data that can be modeled, understood, and acted on. This has the promise to be foundational infrastructure for the next era of medicine, and the implications for healthcare, research, and human performance are unlike anything we have seen in a generation."
Garen Staglin, Founder of One Mind and General Partner at Awareness Capital
The broader market for neurodiagnostics is expanding. EEG systems, which are devices that record the brain's electrical activity, represent a growing segment as demand increases for non-invasive and accessible tools. Several companies have recently launched AI-powered EEG analysis platforms, and wearable brain-monitoring devices are beginning to receive regulatory clearance. Hemispheric takes a different approach. Instead of building a single diagnostic test, the company has built a large-scale AI model designed to interpret brain signals across multiple conditions.
The new capital will go toward expanding deployment of Hemispheric's AI platform, called Descartes, with government, healthcare, and pharmaceutical partners. The company also plans to grow its global brain data network, pursue regulatory approvals for precision diagnostics, and hire more staff in the United States. Hemispheric has already shown the platform to leadership at the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health and is pursuing regulatory pathways in both the US and European markets.
Descartes is initially focused on conditions including PTSD, mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer's disease. The company is also exploring uses in life sciences, where the platform could help drug developers understand how treatments affect brain function. Ongoing brain health monitoring is another target application.
"Every major organ in the body has objective tests, except the brain. Each person's brain is unique, like a snowflake, which is why current attempts at one-size-fits-all treatments fall short. We are working toward a future where you walk into your primary care office, get a brain test as routine as a blood draw, and leave with information you and your clinician can actually use to improve your health."
Hagai Lalazar, PhD, Co-Founder and CEO of Hemispheric
The company spent more than six years in stealth, building its technology through research, data collection, and engineering. Hemispheric was co-founded by Hagai Lalazar, a computational neuroscientist, and Gidi Littwin, who previously co-founded RealFace, the facial recognition company acquired by Apple and integrated into FaceID. Members of the founding team also worked on the core technology behind Apple Vision Pro. Today, the company operates across the United States, Israel, and Asia with a 112-person team that spans neuroscience, clinical-grade medical systems, and large-scale AI.
The central product is Descartes, a 6-billion-parameter AI model trained to decode non-invasive brain activity. It was trained on what the company describes as the world's largest proprietary brain activity dataset: more than 250,000 hours of multimodal, EEG, and behavioral recordings from over 100,000 participants, collected through a global research network. In practice, a patient wears a lightweight dry EEG headset for 15 minutes while using an app on a tablet or phone. Descartes processes the captured brain activity and generates quantitative results. Clinicians can then use those results to support diagnosis, match treatments to a patient's specific brain profile, and track progress over time.
"Non-invasive neurotechnology is the only path to democratizing brain health. The challenge has always been variability: the same brain signal can look completely different across individuals. At a very large scale, it becomes something you can model, making it possible to measure brain function accurately and use it in real-world settings without surgery."
Gidi Littwin, Co-Founder and CTO of Hemispheric
The round brought together institutional investors and individual backers. Hanaco Ventures, an Israeli-American venture capital firm focused on early and growth-stage technology companies, was among the participants. OneMind/Awareness Capital, a venture fund focused on neuroscience services and treatments led by Garen Staglin, also invested. Other participants include Protocol Labs, L Catterton, Arkin Capital, Howard Morgan, Naomi Azrieli, Yasmin Lukatz, and Scott Belsky.
