Bio-magnetic sensor startup with metaverse potential raises funds

Founded in 2021 as a joint spinout from the University of Glasgow and the University of Edinburgh, Neuranics develops magnetic sensors integrated with semiconductor technology for health, fitness, and metaverse applications.

Neuranics uses spintronic sensors to detect magnetic fields from organs in the body such as  the heart and muscles of the arms. The company claims these signals could be used for health monitoring devices and for human posture and gesture detection in human-machine interfaces.

The company is developing magnetocardiography (MCG) sensors that it claims are easier to use than traditional electrocardiography (ECG) sensors. In a human-machine interface application, the magnetomyography (MMG) sensing system can estimate single finger movements by detecting the magnetic activity of the forearm muscles. These sensors improve the latency issues when used to control a robotic hand, or interact with virtual objects in the metaverse.

Sensors for health, virtual interface

The chip-scale sensors are low-cost, scalable, low-power, and operate at room temperature, as opposed to the current method of measuring biological magnetic signals which are characterised by large, complex, expensive, lab or clinic-based equipment.

The pre-seed round of funding was led by Par Equity. GU Holdings, the investment company for the University of Glasgow, Old College Capital, the University of Edinburgh’s venture investment fund, and London-based Creator Fund, also participated in the round.

“We see global demand for our technology, and we are already working with several Tier 1 consumer electronics groups. We want to be the magnetic sensor company, selling our sensor chips or licensing our technology into hundreds of millions of products per annum,” said Noel McKenna, CEO of Neuranics, in a statement.

The company was co-founded by chief technology officer (CTO) and Professor of Nanoelectronics at the University of Glasgow, Hadi Heidari, lead engineer Siming Zuo, and University of Edinburgh Professor of Digital Health and Neuranics’s chief strategy officer (CSO), Kia Nazarpour.