MONTREAL, QUEBEC – AAVAA, Inc., has announced the completion of its $2.0 million Seed Round which will fund the continued development and commercialization of its unique, patented technology that aims to revolutionize human-machine interactivity and human-assistance devices.
AAVAA’s Seed Round was led by Anges Quebec and AQC Capital, and included $750,000 from Quebec Government’s Impulsion PME program, from which Investissement Québec is acting as a representative of the government, together with a follow-on investment from AAVAA’s founding incubator and VC TandemLaunch.
“We are extremely pleased with the fantastic support and confidence AQ, AQC, Investissement Quebec, and TandemLaunch have given us with this financing round. This investment will accelerate our commercialization program, which began with the launch of our demonstration and development kits in January 2023. Working closely with OEMs and applications developers, we expect to begin licensing AAVAA’s platform for commercial use by mid 2023”
–AAVAA CEO Barclay Knapp and CTO Naeem Komeilipoor
“Our investment will enable AAVAA to develop and market its technology in key sectors of Québec’s economy, such as personalized medicine. By supporting innovations such as this from the start-up phase, we are creating a new generation of innovative SMEs,” added Pierre Fitzgibbon, Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, Minister responsible for Regional Economic Development and Minister responsible for the Metropolis and the Montréal Region.
AAVAA’s patented, wearer-friendly sensor system detects head direction, eye-gaze direction, intentional eye blinks, and several other intentional facial movements – all in real time – thereby functioning as a “visual mouse” for the user. The technology easily integrates into earphones, earbuds, eyeglasses, and other wearable form factors. Wearers with AAVAA’s embedded technology can “select” virtually anything in their external environment simply by facing it or looking at it, and then “clicking on it” by intentionally blinking to create an action.
“AAVAA’s technological developments provide advanced solutions to hearing problems and its innovation, focused on different types of biosignals around the ear opens up compelling prospects in human-device interactivity.”, mentioned Louis St-Jacques, partner at AQC Capital.
AAVAA has also “perfected sound source separation technology which can be added to its configuration and allow users to directionally focus hearing devices such as earbuds and hearing aids”.
“Through the Impulsion PME program, we can support promising young companies throughout Quebec and contribute to the emergence of new expertise in key sectors for a strong, competitive, and sustainable Quebec economy. AAVAA is one of them and our team is pleased to support this Montreal-based brain science pioneer to accelerate the development of their products in a growing global market.’’ Guy LeBlanc, President and CEO, Investissement Québec.
Anges Québec’s member and angel investor Guillaume Courtemanche will join AAVAA’s board “I am pleased to join the board of AAVAA and support entrepreneurs Naeem Komeilipoor and Barclay Knapp in their pursuit of applying neuroscience to attention and intent tracking along with my fellow investors at AQ. Not only is the team unique with complementary expertise, but the product roadmap is compelling and realistic.”.
A demo of the company’s tech can be viewed below:
About AAVAA
AAVAA was formed in 2019 specifically to pursue advanced human attention-detection opportunities. Founder Naeem Komeilipoor, Chief Technical Officer, received seed funding and start-up assistance from Montreal-based tech incubator TandemLaunch, and in July 2021 was joined by CEO Barclay Knapp, a successful serial entrepreneur and company scaling expert.
AAVAA’s world-first technology platform starts with unobtrusive sensors that can be included on the inside and around-the-ear portion of existing form factors such as earphones, earbuds, and eyeglasses, together with software that integrates easily with current device components. AAVAA’s sensors detect a wearer’s attention space via decoding and combining brain signals, eye movement, and head direction, and detect a wearer’s intended action by recognizing intentional eye blinks and other intentional facial movement – all in real time. AAVAA has also perfected sound source separation technology which can be added to its configuration and allow users to directionally focus hearing devices such as earbuds and hearing aids.
AAVAA’s technology has been encompassed in several grants and filings with US and International patent agencies.
About Investissement Québec
Investissement Québec’s mission is to play an active role in Québec’s economic development by spurring business innovation, entrepreneurship, and business acquisitions, as well as growth in investment and exports. Operating in all the province’s administrative regions, the Corporation supports the creation and growth of businesses of all sizes with investments and customized financial solutions. It also assists businesses by providing consulting services and other support measures, including technological assistance available from Investissement Québec – CRIQ. In addition, through Investissement Québec International, the Corporation also prospects for talent and foreign investment and assists businesses with export activities.
About Impulsion PME
Endowed with an envelope of $50 million, the Impulsion PME program, managed by Investissement Québec as an agent of the Government of Québec, aims to help young innovative companies with high growth potential to have access to start-up capital investment at the seed stage.
About Anges Quebec
Thanks to the strength and diversity of its network, Anges Québec strategically accompanies angel investors and passionate and innovative entrepreneurs. Founded in 2008, Anges Québec has over 230 members who have so far invested close to $130 million in more than 190 Quebec high growth potential companies, positioning itself as a leader in the Québec venture capital industry.
About AQC Capital
AQC Capital manages two venture capital funds to support businesses in the startup phase. The fund invests in Quebec companies in all sectors that seek to bring innovation to global markets. AQC Capital teams up with Anges Québec, the largest angel investor network in the country, and together the groups bring smart capital to start-ups thanks to their experience and network.
About TandemLaunch
TandemLaunch creates, incubates, and accelerates early-stage technology start-ups based on inventions from the world’s top universities in the areas of artificial intelligence, computer vision, IoT, audio and advanced sensors. The Company scouts thousands of technologies every year from a network that spans over 600 universities worldwide. Having successfully executed over 50 technology transfer agreements, TandemLaunch is a spinout foundry with an international scope, producing high-impact, IP-focused companies with an unprecedented rate of success.
Source: AAVAA
