Key Investor Signals
Secured €120K through grants and innovation awards
The total comprises €50K in NWO Take-off funding, a €50K UREKA Mega Challenge award and a €20K MIT Feasibility Grant from Provincie Utrecht.
Patent application around brain-decoding technology
UCANACT's brain-decoding techniques form the basis of a patent application covering software that translates neural signals into speech and digital control.
CSO led world-first implanted BCI for home use
Nick Ramsey led UMC Utrecht research behind the world’s first fully implanted BCI used independently at home by a person with locked-in ALS; follow-up research reported almost seven years of use.
Other Positive Signals
- Won the 2026 Academic Startup Competition, leading to a US programme with investor and partner meetings.
- Won the Responsible AI Start-up Contest in Rotterdam in October 2026, selected from 17 entries and six finalists at the AI Hype, Hope & Humanity Festival.
- Selected for the LifeSciences@Work Venture Challenge Winter 2025/26 MedTech edition.
- Advisors span BCI validation, neurosurgery, rehabilitation, neural implants, assistive technology and Philips Research.
Team
Dr. Julia Berezutskaya
CEO and Co-founder
- Completed a 2020 PhD at UMC Utrecht on data-driven modelling of speech processes in intracranial brain recordings.
- Research spans speech decoding from intracranial brain recordings and AI models across UMC Utrecht and Radboud’s Donders Centre.
- Corresponding author on 2023 peer-reviewed BCI work that reported 92–100% word-decoding accuracy from reconstructed speech.
Prof. Nick Ramsey
CSO and Co-founder
- Led UMC Utrecht research that produced the world’s first fully implanted BCI for independent home use by a person with locked-in ALS.
- Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at UMC Utrecht since 2007, with 180+ publications and supervision of over 20 PhD researchers.
- Previously co-founded BrainCarta, a clinical fMRI software spin-off created to provide reporting tools to clinicians.
Product
UCANACT is developing a hardware-agnostic BCI software layer for people with severe motor and communication disabilities. It translates neural activity from wearable or implanted sensors into speech and digital commands, supporting communication and device control in everyday settings.
Neural signal decoding for digital control
The software decodes intended movement or speech from neural activity and converts it into commands, words and sentences. UMC Utrecht describes the approach as moving beyond simple yes/no responses toward richer communication and home-device control.
Hardware-agnostic BCI software
UCANACT is designed to work with wearable and implantable neural sensors instead of a single proprietary device. UtrechtInc describes the system as device-agnostic and compatible with third-party platforms.
Personalized system for independent home use
The software is designed to adapt to each user’s neural signals and communication needs, with development focused on independent use across personal devices and smart-home systems outside clinical settings.
Market Overview
UCANACT targets people whose severe motor impairment limits speech, typing or conventional device control. The need spans stroke, severe trauma and neuromuscular disease including ALS. Innovation for Health estimates that more than 2 million people worldwide live with severe motor disability across these conditions.
UCANACT sits at the intersection of assistive technology and the broader BCI market. WHO estimates that more than 2.5 billion people globally need at least one assistive product; IMARC valued the BCI market at $2.4 billion in 2025, spanning healthcare, smart-home control, communication and other applications.
IMARC valued the global brain-computer interface market at $2.4B in 2025.
More than 9 million U.S. adults aged 20+ report having had a stroke, according to the AHA’s 2026 ischemic stroke guideline.
Average annual healthcare costs reached $121,903 per U.S. patient in late-stage ALS in claims-based research.
WHO estimates that more than 2.5 billion people worldwide need one or more assistive products.
Comparable Outcomes
CTRL-Labs
CTRL-Labs developed a wrist-worn neural interface that translated electrical signals from the nervous system into computer commands, enabling digital control through intended hand and finger movements. Facebook agreed to acquire CTRL-Labs in September 2019. Financial terms were not disclosed, but reports placed the transaction at approximately $500 million to $1 billion.
Axonics
Axonics developed and commercialized implantable sacral neuromodulation systems for urinary and bowel dysfunction, providing a scaled precedent for implantable neurotechnology. Boston Scientific completed the acquisition in November 2024 for $71 per share, representing an equity value of approximately $3.7 billion.
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Sources
This profile was built from public company materials, ecosystem sources, market references, and professional profiles.