Untapped Ventures Joins Khosla Ventures in Investing in Openwater’s Series A, Openwater Secures Additional $54 Million

Revolutionizing Medicine with Wearable Tech to Diagnose and Treat a Spectrum of Diseases

Dr. Mary Lou Jepsen received a diagnosis in 1995 of a brain tumor that had gone undetected for five years. But that didn’t stop her from beating the odds – both medically and professionally. 

The recipe for innovation is familiar territory for Dr. Mary Lou Jepsen. She doesn't just dream up the future, she actually creates it with over 250 patents and 50 game-changing products to her name. Previously, Jepsen was executive director of engineering at both Google and Facebook, a CTO at Intel, and the founder of four successful startups. Jepsen is a former professor at MIT and has advised government officials in multiple countries. Time magazine recognized Jepsen in their annual "Time 100" as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. 

Revolutionizing Patient Care

Early detection of Dr. Jepsen’s brain tumor allowed her to be one of the remarkable survival stories. Harnessing her own experience, Dr. Jepsen and her company, OpenWater, are on a mission to make it possible to detect and target debilitating brain conditions through their novel neuromodulation therapies. 

Glioblastoma is one of the most complex and treatment-resistant cancers faced by more than fourteen-thousand Americans each year.  Moreover, glioblastoma is one of the most expensive cancers to treat with current methods, averaging over sixty thousand dollars per patient. Targeting glioblastoma involves surgical brain interventions, which comes with its own long set of risks. 

Additionally, 55% of large vessel occlusion strokes result in long-term disability or death. Time is the ultimate weapon with this condition. The longer one waits to treat stroke, the more debilitating an effect it might have on one’s overall health. Often, hours can go by prior to diagnosis, due to the many cumbersome hospital CT scans, tests, and thrombectomies. 

Depression is also one of the most common mental health issues in the world. Approximately 21 million adults in the United States had at least one major depressive episode, representing 8.3% of all U.S. adults. Beyond the debilitating effects depression can have on an individual’s overall sense of wellbeing and one’s relationships, the disorder impacts overall productivity. Globally, an estimated 12 billion working days are lost every year to depression and anxiety at a cost of $1 trillion per year in lost productivity. While medications might be a viable solution for some, they come with side effects that many find intolerable. About 28% of patients stop taking antidepressants within 1 month of use, and 44% within 3 months. There has yet to be a non-surgically invasive procedure to prevent or cure brain cancers, strokes, and mental health conditions. 

Openwater’s Technological Breakthrough

Enter Openwater. The company’s vision is to revolutionize patient care through a new generation of portable, wearable medical imaging technology and therapeutic devices. 

Openwater asserts that their technology has the potential to save millions of lives from rare cancers, strokes, and clinical depression. Their innovative breakthroughs in novel lasers, opto-electronic and holographic systems aim to deliver portable systems that rival the resolution and image quality of multi-million dollar medical imaging scanners. Openwater’s novel technology could deliver real-time, accurate information to first responders, enabling critical, time-sensitive patient care for Stroke and Traumatic Brain Injuries. 

Whereas many neurological conditions require invasive surgical methods to treat, Openwater’s neuromodulation therapies only require a wearable headset. Openwater’s vision is to equip emergency medical service providers with better neural diagnostics that could detect stroke sooner to more quickly route patients for definitive endovascular intervention, in order to save lives and prevent long-term disability. Their wearable therapeutic device could more readily pinpoint the neural mechanisms implicated in depression through its innovative ultrasound technologies. 

Investment

At Untapped Ventures, we are strong believers in next-generation technology that uplifts and sustains humanity. Untapped Ventures is thrilled to join Openwater’s Series A funding alongside Khosla Ventures. And that’s not all - Openwater has just announced a whopping $54 million in funding to fuel their rapid growth and expansion.

The funds will help facilitate the completion of clinical trials and secure FDA clearance for their first product(s), ensuring that their innovative technology reaches the market with the highest standards of safety and efficacy. Additionally, this will pave the way for creating strategic partnership(s) that will not only enhance Openwater’s capabilities but also enable rapid scaling, fostering the widespread impact of their transformative solutions.