French VC Newfund has closed HEKA (€60 million), the primary European fund devoted to BrainTech, to advertise European innovation in BrainTech – spanning AI, digital therapeutics, superior imaging and BioTech.
With the brand new fund, Newfund goals to finance 25 know-how startups targeted on mind well being. That is in response to U.S. dominance with regards to world funding and the untapped potential Europe has in neuroscience – with world-class analysis centres, hospitals and tutorial groups popping up throughout the continent.
“Traditionally, nevertheless, many inventions born out of European analysis have struggled to scale up because of an absence of appropriate funding, and a major share of the worth has been captured by the US,” says François Véron, Managing Associate of Newfund.
Throughout 2025-26 funding panorama, Newfund’s €60 million HEKA shut might be located inside a wider set of financings in BrainTech and adjoining neuro-focused HealthTech and BioTech.
Related touchpoints embrace:
- France: neuroClues, a French-Belgian firm that raised €10 million for earlier analysis of neurological problems; EG 427, a Paris-based BioTech that secured €27 million for neurology programmes; and Robeauté, additionally Paris-based, which raised €27.2 million to develop microrobots for neurosurgery.
- UK: EpilepsyGTx, which secured €28 million to advance gene therapies for extreme epilepsy; and CoMind, which raised €85 million to scale non-invasive mind monitoring.
- Switzerland-based Connectome, which secured €1.7 million to scale personalised brain-health insights and early cognitive-change detection
- Austrian startup nyra health, which raised €20 million to develop its digital neurotherapy platform
- Irish Aerska, which launched with €17 million to develop RNAi medicines for mind illness
Taken collectively, these bulletins quantity to virtually €216 million, indicating a considerable degree of capital flowing by the sector.
The French dimension is particularly related right here, as EG 427, Robeauté and the French footprint of neuroClues present that France is already effectively represented on this space.
Newfund is an early-stage VC agency based in 2008 that backs entrepreneurs, with a specific give attention to firms with worldwide ambition. The fund invests in Seed rounds to kick-start worldwide enlargement and continues to assist entrepreneurs over the long run by follow-on investments. Its portfolio contains greater than 130 firms.
On the investor facet, Newfund reportedly brings collectively the most important base of entrepreneurs and household places of work in France for an innovation fund – with €400 million in AUM.
Based on knowledge supplied by Newfund, €3.5 billion ($4.2 billion) have been raised in 2025 throughout Europe and the US, of which €3 billion ($3.6 billion) is within the US. Mind-related applied sciences now account for greater than 19% of world funding in digital well being. This momentum is confirmed in 2026, with €2.3 billion ($2.8 billion) already raised within the first three months of 2026, i.e. 256% development in contrast with the identical interval in 2025.
The USA captures greater than 85% of this world funding, confirming a really clear dominance.
“We put money into tasks the place scientific rigour and business ambition reinforce one another. HEKA is an ecosystem being constructed round the very best European BrainTech entrepreneurs, whom we assist step-by-step of their US enlargement,” provides Anne-Sophie Saint-Martin, Associate at Newfund, in control of the HEKA fund’s funding technique.
The fund is constructed on scientific specialisation, deep analytical capabilities and an energetic presence within the US ecosystem (50 American startups backed, an workplace in Palo Alto, a community constructed over 20 years by Henri Deshays, accomplice at Newfund since 2017).
HEKA goals to behave as a bridge between Europe and the US, supporting startups of their worldwide enlargement technique. The AI-based options the fund invests in basically remodel the care pathway, from illness detection to remedy and affected person follow-up.
Since launching, HEKA has reviewed over 900 BrainTech startups, met greater than 550 entrepreneurs, and constructed a portfolio of 9 firms already making an affect in medical and industrial settings, from AI instruments for radiology, stroke triage and ultrasound screening to post-stroke rehab robotics, mRNA remedy manufacturing, digital remedy for melancholy, and platforms supporting drug discovery and EMDR remedy.
Developed with main hospitals, universities and trade companions, a number of of those options are reportedly already FDA-cleared, deployed in real-world settings, and serving to push mind and well being innovation ahead.
