KOCH INVESTS: Taking Better Care of Chronic Headaches

Jun 6, 2023 9:45 AM ET
Image of three mobile phones displaying trends, video chat and personalised care plan

Koch Disruptive Technologies co-led an $8 million seed round into Neura Health, a virtual neurology clinic connecting patients with the top specialists in headache medicine.

  • Neura provides unlimited access to an online care team, including biweekly care coaching sessions and personalized support.
  • “Moving forward, we plan to expand our solution beyond the headache and migraine to other major neurological disease categories, such as sleep disorders and neurological pain. We’re excited to enter the enterprise market so that we can help more people get the care they need. I’ve been there, so I know how much they need it and deserve it,” co-founder and CEO Elizabeth Burstein told Forbes.

WHY IT MATTERS: Affecting about 14% of the United States population, according to the American Migraine Foundation, migraines are the second leading cause of global disability and first among young women.

  • A report in the peer-reviewed journal Headache showed measurable benefits to patients, with a 73% median decrease in the number of emergency room and urgent care visits, 75% median decline in headache frequency and 67% median reduction in headache severity after three months of membership to Neura.

WHY KOCH INVESTED: “Neura has built a proven solution to provide relief for individuals experiencing headache and migraine disorders,” KDT Managing Director Brendon Durkin told Forbes. “We’re excited to support Neura as it embarks on its next phase of growth – bringing its solution to more people via an expanded go-to-market strategy and making a significant impact for those living with major neurological conditions.”

  • Norwest Venture Partners is co-leading the investment with KDT, along with pre-seed investors Pear VC, Next Play Ventures and new investors Correlation Ventures and Plug and Play Ventures.

GO DEEPER: Healthcare is one of KDT’s investment areas, focused on patient treatment and outcomes. Other recent investments in the space include Oshi Health, a company transforming virtual treatment for digestive issues, and ArteraAI, which develops multimodal artificial intelligence-based predictive and prognostic cancer tests.

  • Read more about the investment at Forbes.