Brain Diagnostics Startup Led by Former Apple Engineer Attracts $52 Million in Funding

A startup called Hemispheric, co-founded by former Apple engineer Gidi Littwin, is aiming to transform the diagnosis of brain disorders by making brain scans as routine and affordable as a blood test. Littwin, who helped create Apple's FaceID and Vision Pro technology, left Apple in 2020 and launched the company after being cold-messaged on LinkedIn by Hagai Lalazar, according to Wired. The startup has raised $52 million to develop its AI-powered platform, which analyzes electrical activity in the brain to detect conditions like depression, PTSD, and Parkinson's disease.

"Hemispheric seeks to make diagnostic brain scans for conditions like depression, PTSD, and Parkinson's as cheap and accessible as a blood test."

The company has already collected brain data from 100,000 people to train its deep-learning models, which analyze non-invasive recordings of brain activity. This massive dataset allows the AI to identify patterns linked to cognitive disorders, potentially offering a quicker and more objective diagnostic method compared to current clinical assessments, which often rely on subjective symptom checklists.

Machine Brief reported that Hemispheric, led by Littwin, is "aiming for accessibility akin to blood tests" in brain diagnostics. By focusing on electrical signals rather than expensive imaging like MRIs or PET scans, the startup hopes to lower costs and expand access to brain health evaluations, especially in underserved regions where specialist care is scarce.

The $52 million funding round, reported by Wired, positions Hemispheric as one of the more well-capitalized players in the burgeoning field of AI-driven neurology. While the company has not disclosed a timeline for clinical deployment, its approach leveraging hardware-adjacent expertise from consumer electronics could signal a shift toward more democratized neurological screening.

Littwin's background in facial recognition and spatial computing, combined with Lalazar's clinical neuroscience experience, gives Hemispheric a unique interdisciplinary perspective. As Wired noted, the pair connected via a cold LinkedIn message, illustrating how serendipitous digital networking can spark ventures that straddle tech and medicine.