Our investment in CoMind: Redefining how the brain is measured

At LocalGlobe and Latitude, we’ve always believed that the next wave of European technology will be defined not only by software, but by science and engineering breakthroughs that fundamentally reshape industries.

CoMind is one of those companies, a pioneer redefining how the brain is monitored, entirely non-invasively, through breakthroughs in photonics.

From Science Fiction to Standard of Care

For decades, doctors treating critically ill patients have faced an impossible choice: invasive procedures that require drilling into the skull, or unreliable non-invasive methods that compromise care. CoMind resolves that dilemma.

Its first product, CoMind One, uses low-power laser light to measure cerebral blood flow, brain pressure, cerebral autoregulation, and other vital parameters; continuously, safely, and without surgery.

CoMind’s mission is to redefine how the brain is measured and treated to improve patient outcomes. Its next-generation optical neuromonitor isn’t just a technical marvel, it has the potential to save lives and give clinicians real-time insight into brain health across intensive care, surgery, and neuro-critical settings, establishing a new standard of brain care.

Our Journey with James Dacombe

I first met James Dacombe when he was just 17, introduced by Meri Beckwith and Matt Clifford. A family tragedy had sparked his obsession with understanding the brain. Having just left school in Yorkshire and preparing to move to San Francisco, we convinced him to build in London instead, leading CoMind’s first round at LocalGlobe in 2018.

At the time, his vision was to build a brain–computer interface, but through early customer conversations and exploration in photonics, James pivoted, going all in on what would become CoMind One.

He became a Thiel Fellow in 2022, and today, at just 25, leads one of Europe’s most exciting deep tech teams, a multidisciplinary group uniting neuroscience, photonics, hardware, and AI to tackle one of medicine’s hardest problems.

The company is guided by an exceptional group of global experts:

• Frank Fischer, Chair, renowned Silicon Valley medical device founder
• Dr. Michael Tarnoff, Board Member, former CEO of Tufts Medical Center and Chief Physician Executive & CMO at Medtronic
• Rob Cooper, CSO, Associate Professor in Biomedical Optics at UCL
• Chema García-Soto, CCO, former Medtronic commercial leader
• Professor Marc Bloom, CMO, Chief of Neuroanesthesia at the University of Miami and former President of the American Society of Neuroanesthesia

CoMind has also assembled a clinical advisory board featuring leading professors from Johns Hopkins, Cleveland Clinic, and Harvard Medical School.

This is the kind of deeply technical, mission-driven team that builds enduring companies and redefines entire fields.

From Science to Global Scale

Today, CoMind is announcing over $100 million in funding, including the most recent $60 million round led by Plural, and we’re thrilled to welcome Taavet Hinrikus to the Board.

The company is now advancing through large-scale US clinical trials and pursuing FDA approval, expected in 2027. This new round will support regulatory milestones, team expansion, and manufacturing partnerships, and builds on a commercial collaboration with GE Healthcare in the US, marking real commercial validation for this technology.

This combination of technical validation, regulatory momentum, and commercial traction signals the beginning of CoMind’s next phase: scaling globally.

Enormous Market, Enormous Impact

CoMind’s first market is traumatic brain injury (TBI), where invasive intracranial pressure monitoring remains the standard. By replacing these procedures with non-invasive measurement, CoMind could immediately impact millions of patients each year. From there, the opportunity expands dramatically: intensive care, surgery, and broader neuro-critical care, an addressable market of over 50 million patients annually in the US alone.

If Intuitive Surgical made robotic-assisted surgery mainstream, CoMind has the potential to make continuous, non-invasive brain monitoring the new clinical standard.

Like Intuitive’s early trajectory, CoMind benefits from:

• First-mover advantage in a high-barrier, deeply technical field
• Platform potential to expand from one specialty to many
• Massive dataset creation, powering AI-driven insights and personalized medicine

Intuitive today operates on 2.9 million patients annually and commands a $160B+ market cap. CoMind’s opportunity is potentially even larger as it combines neurology focus, non-invasive monitoring, and a scalable platform business model.

Backing the Builders of a New Era

We’re immensely proud to have backed CoMind from the start, leading its first round in 2019 via LocalGlobe and continuing to invest through every round, most recently via Latitude. James is a generational Founder and partnering with him and his team has been one of our great privileges as investors. We couldn’t be more excited to continue supporting them as they redefine how the brain is measured, and, ultimately, how it’s treated.

Thanks also to our co-investors: Simon at Octopus, Krishna at Crane, Elia at Angelini and Lord David Prior for your partnership.