Flow Secures $1.5M Seed Funding to Launch Portable tDCS Headset for At-Home Depression Treatment

On July 25, 2019, VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned that Flow, a medical device company specializing in the treatment of depression, secured $1.5 million in angel-round funding, led by Khosla Ventures.

Flow intends to use the funds to promote and sell its products in medical clinics across Europe, as well as to conduct related clinical studies.

Flow, founded by Daniel Mansson and headquartered in London, UK, launched its eponymous headphones priced at £399 along with a companion app in the UK and Sweden this June. The product has been classified as a Class IIa medical device.

Flow’s new product is a home-based depression treatment solution addressing both physiological and behavioral aspects, comprising a portable brain-stimulation headset and a therapeutic app. It integrates innovative technologies from clinical psychology, neuroscience, and machine learning. The headset employs transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), delivering a constant low-level direct current via scalp electrodes to modulate and balance neural activity in the targeted brain regions.

This brain stimulation headset must be used in conjunction with a therapeutic application. Users can watch videos on depression within the app and access symptom-relief recommendations from authoritative experts in fields such as sleep, nutrition, fitness, and meditation.

Khosla Ventures, an investor in Flow, is a venture capital firm founded in 2004 by Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, and headquartered in Silicon Valley, USA. In addition to traditional venture capital areas, Khosla Ventures primarily focuses on fields such as environmental technology, the internet, computing, and mobile internet. The firm is committed to participating in angel rounds and IPO financing, investing in companies at both early and late stages.

Khosla Ventures’ vision is to develop technologies that reshape society’s infrastructure, with a preference for investing in companies that leverage technology to provide solutions. Key investment criteria for Khosla Ventures include significant technological or business model innovation, presence in large markets, and short innovation cycles.

To date, Khosla Ventures has participated in 662 investment deals, achieved 90 successful exits, and invested in notable companies such as Nutanix, Cylance, and 1563.

(Compiled by: Fan Xin)