Enhancing Cognitive Abilities through Virtual Reality Games
Virtuleap, a startup focused on healthtech and edtech, has recently secured $2.5 million investment from GED Ventures Portugal for their product called Enhance VR. This innovative program utilizes virtual reality and artificial intelligence to evaluate and improve various cognitive abilities such as memory, attention, motor control skills, and spatial orientation.
The collection of virtual reality games developed by Virtuleap serves as an effective tool for brain health screening and profiling. These games, designed by neuroscientists, are short, intense, and enjoyable experiences that offer translations of neuropsychological assessment tools. The collected data from these games is then analyzed using AI learning tools.
Beyond Gaming: A “Gym for the Mind” and Therapeutic Potential
The Enhance VR program aims to provide a “gym for the mind” that is accessible to everyone. In addition to its cognitive evaluation capabilities, Virtuleap envisions its product to potentially serve as a therapeutic tool for learning challenges like ADHD and other cognitive disorders.
The exercises within Enhance VR are divided into seven cognitive categories, including memory, attention, information processing, mental flexibility, problem-solving, motor control, and spatial orientation. This comprehensive approach ensures a holistic improvement of cognitive abilities.
Furthermore, Virtuleap is developing a second product called Cogniclear VR, in collaboration with partners like Lusíadas Saúde and Roche Portugal. This tool aims to be a sensitive and early cognitive screening tool that can potentially detect cognitive disorders such as subjective cognitive decline, enabling earlier intervention for better health outcomes.
“This investment enables us to ramp up development and commercialization of our frontier VR cognitive solutions at a time in which an impending ‘cognition crisis’ is well underway.” – Amir Bozorgzadeh, CEO of Virtuleap
Virtuleap is working on creating AI learning algorithms using volumetric datasets of psychometric, physical, and physiological data. With over 250,000 data points collected every 3 minutes, the aim is to correlate cognitive performance to mental health.
“By bringing together technology and well-being, we are committed to pave the way for a new era in mental health that is accessible to everyone.” – Bibi Sattar Marques, Partner at GED Ventures Portugal
The investment from GED Ventures Portugal reflects their strategic approach of investing in technology that positively impacts people’s lives, particularly their health. GED is an independent and international financial group that manages more than a billion euros in assets in venture, private equity, and infrastructure.
Virtuleap’s flagship product, Enhance VR, has already gained significant traction with over 60,000 early registered users without any marketing efforts. It is available in major VR app stores and is translated into five languages, with plans for further expansion.
The company’s commitment to research is evident with the publication of four papers, one of which showcases a promising pilot study demonstrating the ability to enhance processing speed in students with ADHD. Additionally, Virtuleap has secured $1.8 million in commercial agreements with companies like Penumbra, HP, and BehaVR, highlighting the industry’s demand for their transformative technology.
With the development of Cogniclear VR, Virtuleap aims to revolutionize early cognitive illness detection, surpassing existing solutions in terms of speed and accuracy.
