EmSense, the company that reads your brain’s reactions to ads, gets boost
EmSense — the San Francisco company that has created a device to read your mind to assess how you react to TV commercials and other media — has raised $9 million more in a third round of funding.
The company says it is trying to improve on established neuroscience technology called “EEG (Electroencephalography) recording” by offering a better way to tell marketing directors and video game developers which parts of commercials or video games people don’t like. The company gets this data by paying people to be guinea pigs — to wear its EEG-sensing headsets and watch TV or play video games. Emsense then measures their brainwaves and other physiological reactions.
Technology Partners led the round, and was joined by existing investor the Foundry Group.
The company said the funding will help it support its market research partners as well as help it develop a large bio-sensory “in-home panel” — the first of its kind.
“We believe that neuromarketing is now mainstream and is poised for explosive growth,” said Roger Quy, general partner with Technology Partners, in a statement. He pointed out that he is one of the only venture capitalists with a PhD in neuroscience and a research background in neurotechnology.
There are other companies trying to do something similar. Neurofocus of Berkeley is one.
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