Imperial College London spinout building device-agnostic EEG decoding software that converts brainwaves into digital commands (motor imagery, attention, cognitive load) without per-user calibration. Products include CogiGame for thought-controlled VR stroke rehabilitation and CogiSense for real-time cognitive monitoring. Winner of the NeurIPS 2021 BEETL EEG transfer-learning competition.
Founded 2020
team@apexlogos.ai · 21 days ago
EEGMiner/BrainWave for neural decoding
calibration-free?? SHOW MORE
team@apexlogos.ai · 27 days ago
COMPETITION team@apexlogos.ai · 27 days ago
Cogitat research note (2026-09-09)
Listings
- Official site: https://cogitat.io/ (EEG decoding software; "converting brainwaves into digital commands"; device- and subject-agnostic; no long calibration). Tech: https://cogitat.io/tech.html . Team: https://cogitat.io/team.html . Media: https://cogitat.io/media.html . LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cogitat/ . X: https://twitter.com/CogitatLtd .
- Neurofounders startup map: https://www.neurofounders.co/startups/cogitat (UK, founded 2020, Tools and Infrastructure, EEG software/app, Seed stage, funding amount blank). Positioned as a device-agnostic EEG decoding layer similar to Arctop, with stronger assistive-tech/stroke rehab focus.
- Starting article https://www.neurofounders.co/articles/inside-the-frontier-of-brain-foundation-models (7 Sep 2026) does not name Cogitat. It is a webinar write-up on brain foundation models featuring Arctop (Dan Furman) and Piramidal (Dimitris Sakellariou). Cogitat is adjacent: it publishes EEG foundation-model papers and markets "industrial-grade foundation models for EEG decoding," but its shipped product is command/state decoding, not clinical foundation-model interpretation.
- Companies House: COGITAT LTD 13078380, incorporated 11 Dec 2020, SIC 62090, registered office Lake House, Market Hill, Royston SG8 9JN. Former White City Imperial Translation & Innovation Hub address. PSC: Dimitrios Adamos (25–50% shares/votes). Directors: Adamos, Eirini Kotsia, Nikolaos Laskaris, Allan Ponniah. Resigned 6 May 2021: Damon Mannion, Ernesto Gottfried Schmitt.
- Greek subsidiary: COGITAT GREECE ΜΟΝΟΠΡΟΣΩΠΗ Ι.Κ.Ε., Thessaloniki, Elevate Greece registry, funding state Pre-Seed, 12 employees listed.
- Aggregators: PitchBook 481571-56 (founded 2020, Royston, 15 employees, $811K raised, 12 investors, Seed 06-Oct-2021). CB Insights ($600K total, 15 investors; latest Incubator/Accelerator-II 25 Jan 2025). Dealroom (London; company 13078380). F6S. Tracxn. EuroQuity.
Product (command decoding vs semantic reconstruction)
- Core IP is software, not hardware. Decoders map EEG to discrete digital commands and states: motor imagery / imagined movement (clench, throttle, limb intent), attention, cognitive load, stress, sleep. Demos are BCI control (jet-ski game, VR ball, avatar throttle) and operator monitoring, not reconstruction of inner speech, language, or rich semantics.
- CogiGame / Cogigame: thought-controlled VR neurofeedback for upper-limb stroke rehab (NHS/UCLH Queen Square collaboration; Innovate UK-backed MVP with Unit 9). Closed-loop: imagined action -> decoded command -> VR action.
- CogiSense: NATO DIANA 2025 human-performance product. Real-time attention / cognitive-load / stress monitoring, zero calibration, including single in-ear channel (IDUN Guardian earbuds) validated at Estonian Aviation Academy (TRL 4 to 7). Defence/training use, still command/state decoding rather than semantic reconstruction.
- Differentiation vs Arctop/Piramidal: Cogitat sells a plug-and-play decoder layer (person- and device-independent motor/attention commands). Piramidal trains large clinical EEG foundation models. Arctop scores consumer cognitive states with per-user calibration. Cogitat's 2025 papers (NeurIPS/ICML/ICLR workshops, NeuroRVQ codebook model) are research toward foundation models; the commercial claim remains "brainwave decoders that actually work" for control and monitoring.
- Patents (from tech page / Elevate Greece): Learnable Filters for EEG Classification (GB2609265, WO2023007118, EP4346604, US 20240366140 A1); Classification of Brain Activity Signals (GB2605270, WO2023148471, EP4452055, US 20250127636 A1); separable-models filing GB2519985.2 pending.
Materials
- Site, tech, team, media pages as above.
- Imperial News 10 Dec 2021: NeurIPS 2021 BEETL win (1st motor imagery, 1st overall vs 110+ teams). https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/232534/imperial-startup-wins-global-competition-brain-computer/
- Sifted 1 Mar 2023 (Tim Smith): Innovate UK £500k grant; 2021 pre-seed from Metavallon VC and Creator Fund. https://sifted.eu/articles/cogitat-grant-news/
- BBC 25 Feb 2023: "Can mind-controlled VR games help stroke patients?" https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-64720533
- Imperial 12 Jul 2023: NHS stroke partnership. https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/245755/cogitat-partnered-with-nhs-bring-neurotechnology/
- Creator Fund case study (investment year 2021). https://thecreatorfund.com/case-studies/cogitat/
- UKRI / GtR Cogigame project with Unit 9. http://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=10052924
- NATO DIANA 2025 cohort (Human Health & Performance). €100k Phase 1 contractual/non-dilutive. NATO innovator quote. EuroQuity CogiSense page.
- Pioneer Group / Innovate UK AI in Health Accelerator (Jan 2025 listing on cogitat.io/media.html), not an equity round.
- Companies House SH01s (20 Sep, 22 Sep, 8 Oct 2021 Series Seed at £2.937/share) and accounts to 31 Dec 2021 (170,239 Series Seed shares, consideration £499,991.94, share premium £499,975). Accounts to 31 Dec 2025: share premium unchanged; cash £1,021; directors' loans £116,000; average employees 1 in 2025 vs 7 in 2024.
Funding (verified vs aggregator-only)
- Verified equity: 2021 Series Seed, roundId 10554, announced 2021-10-08, roundAmount GBP 499992. Participations: MetavallonVC (investorId 2201, participation 15773) and CreatorFund (investorId 2057, participation 15774). Sifted calls this pre-seed; Companies House/PitchBook call it Series Seed. Individual tickets not disclosed. No later equity allotments in filings (share premium static through YE 2025).
- Verified non-dilutive (not entered as rounds): Innovate UK grant £500,000 announced 1 Mar 2023 (Sifted). NATO DIANA 2025 Phase 1 €100,000 contractual funding (standard cohort award; Dealroom listed $100k). Cloud credits (AWS Activate, Google Cloud, Microsoft for Startups, NVIDIA) are programs, not capital.
- Aggregator-only names NOT added as investors: Cambridge Angels (F6S/Tracxn), Beast Ventures (CB Insights/F6S), Pioneer Group (PitchBook "minority" — media page shows AI in Health Accelerator, 10 Jan 2025), BioInnovation Institute, CDL-Paris / Creative Destruction Lab, AI in Health Accelerator. No primary source tying Cambridge Angels or Beast Ventures to the 2021 allotments. Pioneer Group is an accelerator listing, not a verified equity check.
- CB Insights $600K and PitchBook $811K totals mix grant/accelerator dollars; Companies House equity is ~GBP 500k. Elevate Greece still says Pre-Seed and "raising a Seed Round." EuroQuity: fundraising docs published then taken offline (2025–2026).
Team
- Founders added as investors at Cogitat: AllanPonniah (CEO, investorId 3295, roleId 3039), DimitriosAdamos (CTO, 3291/3033; also Imperial Honorary Senior Research Fellow roleId 3034), StefanosZafeiriou (Scientific Lead, 3298/3042; Imperial professor roleId 3043), NikosLaskaris (Neuroinformatics Lead, 3301/3046; CH name Nikolaos), IreneKotsia (Data/ML Lead, 3302/3047; CH name Eirini), YannisPanagakis (AI/ML Lead, 3304/3049).
- Adamos is the only current PSC (25–50%). Laskaris was a 25–50% PSC until 24 May 2021.
- Non-founder team on cogitat.io/team.html (not added as people records): Siegfried Ludwig, Stylianos Bakas, Konstantinos Barmpas (BCI & AI/ML engineers), Na Lee (Data & AI/ML), Anastasios Loudovikos (XR & Product), Antonis Karantonis (AI/ML). Elevate Greece also lists Georgios Zoumpourlis.
- Early directors Damon Mannion and Ernesto Schmitt resigned 6 May 2021; no verified investment by them or by Beast Ventures.
Schema gaps / unfit
- No grant or non-dilutive instrument type: Innovate UK £500k and NATO DIANA €100k cannot be stored as equity rounds without mislabeling. Accelerators (CDL, Pioneer/AI in Health, DIANA) similarly unfit.
- No spinout/university-equity field: Imperial College London exists as Organization ImperialCollegeLondon (reuse) but there is no verified Imperial shareholding or investment to attach.
- Greek subsidiary COGITAT GREECE is a separate legal entity; not modeled.
- Individual 2021 tickets unknown; lead not named; Sifted "pre-seed" vs CH "Series Seed" naming conflict stored as one round dated to the 8 Oct 2021 closing allotment.
- Cambridge Angels / Beast Ventures / Pioneer Group equity claims remain unverified (aggregator or accelerator).
- No named angels with primary-source checks.
- 2025 accounts show director loans (£116k) and near-zero cash; no schema for director loans or going-concern flags.
- Employees, patents, publications, NHS/DIANA traction, and product distinction (command decoding vs semantic reconstruction) live in this note rather than structured fields.
- Founder titles vary by source (Zafeiriou: Scientific Lead vs CSO/Chief Scientist). Team-page titles used.
- SearchDirectory found no Cogitat company before this import.
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Allan PonniahCo-Founder and CEO
Dimitrios AdamosCo-Founder and CTO
Irene KotsiaCo-Founder and Data/ML Lead
Nikos LaskarisCo-Founder and Neuroinformatics Lead
Stefanos ZafeiriouCo-Founder and Scientific Lead
Yannis PanagakisCo-Founder and AI/ML Lead