Christopher Murray, relationship director, Barclays shares how the bank’s Eagle Labs initiative helped Irish startup Neurovalens break into the US market.
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Exporting for the first time can be a risky business. That’s why choosing to take the plunge and break into international markets requires financial support and serious amounts of self-confidence. Connecting with the right people, accessing capital, and navigating a new culture can make the integration process daunting. But that’s just what Neurovalens, a neuroscience and technology start-up from Belfast, has succeeded in doing when exporting its headset, Modius.
Neurovalens’ roots
Neurovalens is a Northern Ireland company dedicated to improving the lives of millions of people around the world using neuroscience and technology. Its lightweight headset has proven that when worn for an hour a day for two to three months it helps wearers to lose excess weight. The start-up is helping people on their weight-loss journey - and evidence suggests they’re succeeding.
Neurovalens was co-founded in 2013 by Jason McKeown and Paul McGeoch – neuroscientists and doctors from Northern Ireland and Scotland. Jason holds a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery and Bachelor of Obstetrics from Queen’s University, Belfast, while Paul gained his primary medical degree from the University of Aberdeen. He was subsequently awarded the higher degree of Doctor of Medicine by examination for his clinical research on vestibular stimulation at the University of California San Diego.
Applying neuroscience to weight-loss
There are more than two billion people globally who are classified as obese,[1] and many of these people will try to solve their weight issues with some form of calorie-restricting diet. While some individuals will lose weight this way, the vast majority will find that it eventually creeps back on.[2]
Modius is designed for people who want to lead a healthy lifestyle. This means supplementing the headset regime with regular exercise and a healthy diet. It is described as ‘less of a killer-diet and more a fad diet-killer.’ The product uses electric pulses to gently and non-invasively stimulate the part of the brain known to control fat storage, metabolism and appetite, called the hypothalamus. This a crucial area in how the brain maintains stable internal physiological processes within the body. The low-level pulses received from Modius are interpreted by the brain as a signal to become leaner.
Initial support from Barclays Eagle Labs in Belfast
Barclays Eagle Labs are co-working spaces that were set up to help start-ups and scale up businesses innovate and grow. Residents have the opportunity to network and share knowledge with like-minded entrepreneurs, as well as access mentoring and funding. There are 15 Barclays Eagle Labs across the UK where the residents can develop their digital skills, and take their small business to the next step. Neurovalens was a member of one of these – the Belfast Eagle Lab.
Prior to their introduction to the Belfast Eagle Lab, the co-founders of Neurovalens were relatively new to the business world and wanted to build a support network that could help them grow their business. This included obtaining funding advice, as well as building up their wider network to benefit from knowledge sharing.
Neuro-tech is still quite a new area of medicine for many people, so Modius needed to overcome scepticism, demystify its nascent technology and build trust and credibility with a financial audience. As residents of the Belfast Barclays Eagle Lab they were introduced to other entrepreneurs, many of whom have experience in overcoming similar challenges associated with starting a business and whose expertise would prove invaluable.
The co-founders were able to meet with other high-growth start-ups and gain greater knowledge on how to expand the business. The combination of business incubation, development workshops, mentoring and co-working opportunities were an important platform for expansion and exposure. Since the start of 2017, Neurovalens has grown from a team of three – Jason, Paul, and their chief marketing officer Tony Wilcox – to a team of over 20.
Funding access
A Barclays customer since 2015 we spotted the potential in Neurovalens and identified the company as a high-growth prospect from its time spent at the Barclays Eagle Lab. This direct insight into the business and on-going relationship with Neurovalens has enabled us to assist the company as they have grown – connecting them to the people able to add the value and provide appropriate support.
Through the networks Neurovalens was able to access at Belfast Eagle Labs, the company has raised £1.5m in a seed round in 2017 from Angel investors and local Northern Irish Venture Capitalists (VCs). Following this, it launched a successful Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, which raised nearly £1.4m in October last year.
Cracking America
It’s estimated that the weight loss market is worth a staggering $66bn in America. This made the US market a priority for Modius, and now the majority of headsets are sold here. But how did a three-man start up from Northern Ireland manage to secure customers over the pond?
As newcomers to the start-up community, the Neurovalens team did not have any prior business background connecting them with VCs or investors. The co-founders required advice to maximise impact on the US market, and we played a key role in introducing the start-up to a series of investors in order to continue its growth and access to finance – as well as identifying potential VCs ahead of further rounds of funding. Neurovalens is currently in the midst of a $10m ‘Series A’ round which it will close in late summer 2018; introducing them to VCs helped add value to this, and bolster their long-term growth prospects.
As Neurovalens grew their global footprint we provided expert advice and support along the way, including multi-currency accounts, FX strategy and international trade guidance. Next, the firm has aims to target new markets – particularly across Europe and Asia – and is also looking to develop a new version of Modius targeted at people who are clinically obese.
The future of Neurovalens
Neurovalens remains a small business but is experiencing rapid growth. Currently, it has sold around 6,000 headsets, and has started to see some significant and compelling results from users’ feedback. Already, eight out of 10 people have become leaner with an average of over seven lbs lost in the first two months of use – with the maximum weight lost by a user so far being 23 lbs.
This year alone, Modius has been in the final three of Last Gadget Standing at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas; shortlisted in the Best Innovation category at the Sports Technology Awards in London; and been a finalist in the Irish leg of the Med-Tech Awards. We see the huge potential of this product to disrupt the health and weight-loss industry – and can’t wait to see what happens next.
[1] Research led by researchers at the University of Washington, published in the New England Journal of Medicine: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1614362#article_references
[2] Theory supported by studies including: https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/74/5/579/4737391
