When Neural Analytics won CE mark and a Nod from FDA for its ultrasound guidance device last year, that was only the start of the company’s journey. The Los Angeles-based company is now on a quest to launch its neurocare solution in the U.S. and develop a strategy to help push adoption rates for the technology.

The company kicked off the latest part of its journey with a $22 million financing from the sale of Series C shares led by Alpha Edison. Neural Analytics has also issued warrants to purchase stock in connection to the financing.

Leo Petrossian, PhD., Co-Founder and CEO of Neural Analytics said the financing was a significant accomplishment for the company.

“In the industry the funding of any startup boils down to exactly two requirements, Petrossian, told MD+DI. “One is how well do people understand the market and two is how well do they understand the solution the business provides.”

Petrossian added, “we have the good fortune of entering a market where there has been a tremendous amount of awareness raised … [such as the] success of companies like Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic and Penumbra around stroke therapies … the awareness in the marketplace for neurocare is very, very high.”

The Lucid Robotic System is a cutting-edge technology that combines the Lucid M1 Transcranial Doppler (TCD) System with the NeuralBot System. It is an autonomous all-in-one robotic neurovascular ultrasound device designed to non-invasively search, measure and display objective brain blood flow information in real-time.

The company said its Lucid Robotic System goes beyond supporting initial neurological assessment. It can be utilized throughout the patient care chain: from the use of a bubble study in the identification of right-to-left shunts, to monitoring for cerebral blood flow velocities in real time, to emboli monitoring. The Lucid Robotic System is currently active at select centers around the U.S. and Neural Analytics will continue to expand its commercialization.

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The financing follows Neural Analytics’ recent enrollment of their first patients into the CODEX Study, a prospective, single-arm, global multi-center study using an investigational iteration of the Lucid Robotic System, that aims to further explore the technical feasibility of this technology in a wider range of patients and neurological pathologies where monitoring of brain blood flow data would be of benefit in the assessment of neurological diseases.

Neural Analytics was founded in 2013 and has raised about $66 million to date. Petrossian said what has helped the company stay successful is keeping an eye on the end game – and looking past simply just receiving regulatory approval.

He said startups looking to make an impact in healthcare should begin thinking about adoption and reimbursement as soon as possible or at “day zero.” He noted that the company had a defined path for reimbursement.

“My opinion is generally [reimbursement] has to be part of the foundation of the business from inception,” Petrossian said. “The purpose of a startup is not to build a new technology for the sake of building new technologies. We exist to build businesses that provide shareholder value; clinical outcomes; and can drive successful patient management. That’s not done strictly by developing new technology. You need to have all the pieces in place.”

He added, “if you’re simply selling the product to a doctor, then you can think about technology and nothing else. But for a medical product to be successful today, you have to sell it to the doctor, you have to sell it to the CFO of the hospital; you have to sell it to the insurance company; and you have to sell it to society. You have to get all of these people on board and if they’re not on board then you’re not going to be successful."