San Francisco-based Coherence Neuro has secured a $10 million seed round to advance its work at the intersection of neuroengineering and cancer therapy. The round was led by Topology Ventures and Artesian (Alternative Investments), with participation from Blackbird, Possible Ventures, and a network of early-stage backers, including XEIA Venture Partners, Jumpspace Ventures, Divergent Capital, SmartGateVC, Spacewalk VC, and several prominent angels, including Matt Krisiloff, Linhao Zhang, and Tim Shi.
This latest funding will enable the company to begin its first human trials — a pivotal step toward building a closed-loop, bi-directional system for treating cancer. The startup envisions a future in which conditions such as glioblastoma, one of the most aggressive brain cancers, are monitored and managed in real time rather than treated reactively.
A new way to listen to the body
Founded in 2022 by Ben Woodington and Elise Jenkins, the company is taking a new approach to understanding and treating diseases by decoding the body’s electrical patterns. The founders first met at the University of Cambridge, where they researched neuroengineering and neuro-oncology. Their shared belief that diseases like cancer can be understood and treated through electrical signals forms the core of Coherence Neuro’s mission.
Coherence Neuro’s flagship device, SOMA-1, is built to listen to the body’s electrical cues as diseases evolve and use precise stimulation to guide the body back toward health. The device gathers continuous data on neural activity, turning each user into part of a learning network that improves over time.
By creating what it calls the world’s largest disease-focused data ecosystem, Coherence Neuro is laying the groundwork for a model that continuously refines itself. The more the device is used, the smarter and more responsive the system becomes.
Transforms how cancer is understood
Coherence Neuro is founded on the principle that cancer is not an external invader but a system-state error, one that can be corrected by restoring biological harmony. Its approach contrasts sharply with traditional methods that rely on surgery, radiation or chemotherapy, all of which carry intense side effects and uncertain outcomes.
The company’s mission is to transform cancer from a destructive fight into a manageable and precisely controlled condition. By using data-driven neurostimulation, Coherence aims to turn treatment into a gentler, continuous process rather than a series of aggressive interventions.
“This is one of the most ambitious technical efforts we have seen at Blackbird, turning decades of neuroscience into a new way to fight cancer,” said Blackbird general partner Michael Tolo in a LinkedIn post. “But also an ambition that is quickly becoming reality, with first-in-human trials starting next year!”
“Bridging the gap between neuro and AI, we are generating the world’s largest, most comprehensive disease dataset,” said Neuro co-founder Elise Jenkins on LinkedIn. “With our flagship device, SOMA-1, we will listen to the electrical cues that evolve as diseases progress and nudge them back towards a healthier state using electrical stimulation. Each device in a human becomes part of a learning system that gets more intelligent the more people use it. This round unlocks our first-in-human trial, edging us a step closer to delivering a closed-loop, bi-directional cancer treating system.”
