$50m Israeli fund to invest in neuro wellness

Avi Yaron Photo: PR
Avi Yaron Photo: PR

JOY Ventures, a new investment firm, has inaugurated offices in Herzliya, set up an incubator and will invest in startups, and research.

JOY Ventures, a new investment firm, has recently inaugurated its office in Herzliya Pituach, and earmarked $50 million for the first stages of its operations. JOY Ventures was founded by the Israeli-Japanese Corundum Open Innovation Fund

Joy Ventures will focus on startup companies, technological incubators for entrepreneurs and grants for academic research in the emerging field of Neuro Wellness, related to consumer products and technologies developed based on neuro research as anti-stress and mood alteration solutions.

Avi Yaron, a serial entrepreneur, founder of Visionsense and the inventor of a state-of-the-art instrument for complex brain surgery, will head the company.

Yaron said, "Many years of being involved in the development of brain surgery technologies, made me realize the human need for joyful and relaxed moments and how critical they are for our health. Many neuro researches show that the modern life intensity contributes to prolonged hostile emotions of sadness, anger, anxiety, guilt and more. These emotions, in turn, generate stress and collect a heavy toll from our health. Originally developed to make things easier for human beings, technology actually intensifies the tension we live in. For this reason we decided to invest in neuro wellness by leveraging the large body of research and neuro developments in Israel. We plan to promote the development of scientifically-proven consumer products which are based on neuro science to alleviate stress, promote calmness and happiness and enhance people's well-being in the long term."

JOY will initiate and support research and technological developments through two channels: research grants and a technological incubator. The grants are meant to collect scientific evidence that would help establish the new field and encourage new ideas and products. The company will bring together global researchers from a range of fields with Israeli entrepreneurs to promote new developments.

The technological incubator, which is located in Herzliyah, will foster technological anti stress solutions that impact neuro wellness. All types of technologies will be evaluated from chemicals through mechanical devices to electronics and smart algorithms. The incubator will invest and support startup companies in the long run to achieve commercial success.

Corundum is an Israeli-Japanese venture capital fund that invests in Israeli technology companies. The investors in the fund include Japanese corporations. The Fund has offices in Israel and Japan, and Corundum was founded by David Heller, Gilad Peleg-Lorberbaum and David Ben-Ami.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 12, 2017

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2017

Avi Yaron Photo: PR
Avi Yaron Photo: PR
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