Phosphoenix
Netherlands · Healthtech
Phosphoenix is developing a brain implant that aims to restore functional vision for people whose blindness cannot be treated through the eyes or optic nerve.
Product
Phosphoenix is developing a visual neuroprosthesis for people whose retina or optic nerve cannot deliver sight to the brain. A camera and processor would translate a scene into patterns of electrical stimulation, while the company’s high-density, flexible Fountain Probe targets the lateral geniculate nucleus, a relay in the brain’s visual pathway. Coordinated stimulation across more than 1,000 electrodes is intended to create simple visual percepts that could help users navigate and detect obstacles.
The approach builds on preclinical research in which electrical stimulation produced recognizable artificial patterns, but the commercial device remains in development. The company is advancing the probe and system toward clinical testing and preparing for a first-in-human study; it has not yet established a human therapeutic outcome. Its initial users would be patients with profound blindness, with neurosurgeons and clinical research partners central to implantation and evaluation.
- Headquarters
- Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Product
- Fountain Probe visual neuroprosthesis for blindness
- Customers
- People with profound vision loss from damage to the retina or optic nerve
- Maturity
- Preclinical development; preparing for a first-in-human study
Funding history
1 round · 1 with disclosed amounts| Announced | Round | Amount | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Financing round | €1.3M | FIRST Fund — ParticipantInnovatiefonds Noord-Holland — ParticipantROM InWest — ParticipantTTT MedTech Fund — Participant |