Startups
Samphire Neuroscience
London, United Kingdom
Samphire Neuroscience Ltd is a London neurotechnology and medical-device company developing non-invasive brain stimulation for women’s menstrual health, chronic pain and mood conditions. Incorporated in the United Kingdom on September2,2021 under company number13600022, it was formerly The Nucleaire Ltd until February2022. Neuroscientist Emilė Radytė and lawyer Alex Cook co-founded the business. Its technology is transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), delivered through the Samphire Headband, originally branded Nettle. This is a neuroscience and medical-hardware platform; no unsupported neural implant or specific AI algorithm is inferred. The company’s current site describes Nettle as a ClassIIa medical device with UK/EU clearance for specific indications and distinguishes the Lutea general-wellness variant. Its footer explicitly states that its products have no US FDA approval or clearance. PMDD, endometriosis, perimenopause and other chronic-pain research and sponsor-reported trial outcomes are not treated as universal cleared indications or independent efficacy guarantees. The device’s targets include motor and prefrontal cortex, relevant to pain and mood. Its complete published current roster has five core leaders and six scientific advisers or clinical collaborators. The collaborator directory is not a statutory board or an inference of personal investment. Original name-bound company portraits and branding are preserved. Primary investor evidence confirms a USD5million seed raise reported in June2025, led by Inventure alongside Fortify Ventures; Fortify’s own portfolio explicitly qualifies its co-lead role. A separate USD2.3million pre-seed round is confirmed by CVX Ventures and the company’s transaction counsel in February/March2024. Exact settlement dates and individual allocations remain unpublished. SOSV’s own portfolio identifies HAX2021 participation, but that does not independently prove its involvement in the2025seed. UKRI reports three InnovateUK grant projects with direct named beneficiary Samphire Neuroscience Ltd: the2022–2024 menstrual-health device project, the2024–2025 Nettle clinical pilot and the2024–2025 SamphireXR perimenopausal insomnia/anxiety project. Awards and funded values are not project costs or verified cash-disbursement dates. A separate SBRI Healthcare PMDD validation award is jointly named with Queen Mary University of London; the consortium amount is not automatically assigned entirely to Samphire. The original2025 post by Fortify’s general partner Eli Kia names additional actual seed participants: APEX Ventures, SOSV, AfterWork Ventures, FIRSTPICK, Ayuh Ventures and Seaside Ventures. Each verified manager is linked once to the existing USD5million seed event, separately from its prior pre-seed relationship. The APEX hyperlink identifies a Portuguese investment brand, verified as APEX Capital, apex-cp.com, under the APEX Cap Group brand and disclosed Luxembourg APEX Elite Management platform. This is distinct from the Austrian APEX namesake. Direct participation evidence supersedes reliance on a generic portfolio page, while individual tickets remain unpublished. Earlier AfterWork and Ayuh accounts describe investments during2022; these may form part of the subsequently reported cumulative pre-seed financing and are not separate fabricated USD2.3million raises.
Founded 2021
Team
 Alex CookCOO and Co-Founder |
 David SilbersweigScientific Advisor / Key Collaborator |
 Emilė RadytėCEO and Co-Founder |
 Ertan SaridoganScientific Advisor / Key Collaborator |
 Ieva KarvelytėResearch Manager |
 Jeffrey ShurenScientific Advisor / Key Collaborator |
 Kendell CannonChief Medical Officer |
 Nina ThigpenScientific Advisor / Key Collaborator |
 Nirav ShahClinical Collaborator |
 Rodrigo PegadoScientific Advisor / Key Collaborator |
