Axite Raises $25M Seed
Bay Area startup Axite raised $25M seed funding led by Primary Ventures with Scott Belsky from A24/Adobe participating, and opened a Mission Bay lab. Bay Area startups raised more VC funding than the next 9 geographic regions combined, according to recent funding data.
- Axite was co-founded by CEO Charlotte Franenberg and Ruchella Kock, spinning out of Leiden University in the Netherlands. The company's technology is based on decades of scientific research into how EEG-measured brain activity correlates with behavior and cognition. - The company is developing a platform called NeuroJournal, which uses a consumer-grade EEG headband and a smartphone app to monitor brain activity at home. This is intended to provide objective data for individuals with conditions like epilepsy, Long COVID, and post-concussion syndrome. - Lead investor Primary Ventures has a dedicated focus on health tech, with over a dozen digital health startups in its portfolio. The firm recently raised a $625 million Fund V to invest in seed-stage companies nationwide, with healthcare being one of its key sectors. - Scott Belsky, an angel investor and founder of Behance, focuses on companies that prioritize design and user experience. His investment portfolio includes companies like Pinterest, Uber, and Airtable. - Axite’s new lab is located in Mission Bay, a San Francisco neighborhood that has become a major hub for biotech and life sciences companies, largely due to its proximity to the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) campus. - In the first seven months of 2025, startups in California, led by the Bay Area, attracted over $110 billion in venture capital, which accounts for nearly two-thirds of all venture funding in the United States.
