SonoCareLab Raises Seed Round From Bluepoint for Brain Ultrasound

SonoCareLab, a South Korean medical device startup developing ultrasound-based treatments for brain disease, has raised a seed investment from deep-tech accelerator Bluepoint Partners. The size of the round and the company's valuation were not disclosed.

The company is a faculty spin-off from Sungkyunkwan University. It is built on core ultrasound technology for brain therapy that Professor Jinhyung Park developed in the university's Department of Global Biomedical Engineering while carrying out a project under the Samsung Future Technology Development Program.

Targeting the brain's own waste clearance

The Alzheimer's treatment market is in transition, with antibody drugs such as lecanemab and donanemab, which target amyloid beta, now available. SonoCareLab is focusing on the brain's glymphatic system, which removes metabolic waste through the circulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and interstitial fluid.

Its core technology, called Acoustic Brain Sweeper, uses a proprietary sweeping method that moves ultrasound in a set direction. By applying physical stimulation along the waste drainage pathways, it aims to promote the body's cleansing circulation without invasive procedures.

The company does not plan to offer the technology only as a standalone therapy. It is being developed as a companion device to be used together with antibody drugs, assisting waste removal to raise treatment efficiency.

Team and plans

CEO Jinhyung Park earned a doctorate in biomedical engineering at the University of Southern California. He later led system development and commercialization projects at Siemens' ultrasound research lab in Korea and at Philips in the United States.

Park Su-yong, a director at Bluepoint who led the investment, said central nervous system diseases including Alzheimer's still have large unmet needs and call for new approaches that complement drug therapy. He said SonoCareLab has a differentiated technology that controls the brain's waste clearance mechanism non-invasively.

Park said the first goal is to combine the brain's natural clearance mechanism with antibody therapy for Alzheimer's. After establishing itself in the companion device market, the company plans to expand into a general-purpose platform covering a range of central nervous system disorders.