BrainCheck's $13M Boost to Scale AI-Powered Cognitive Healthcare

AUSTIN, Texas & NEW YORK – February 26, 2026 – Digital health firm BrainCheck has secured an additional $13 million in Series A financing to expand its AI-enabled platform for cognitive assessment and care. The funding round, led by Next Coast Ventures with participation from S3 Ventures and UPMC Enterprises, signals a significant investment in tackling one of modern healthcare’s most pressing challenges: the early detection and longitudinal management of cognitive decline.

The new capital is set to fuel a major expansion of BrainCheck's enterprise infrastructure, enabling deeper integration into clinical workflows, enhancing its AI-assisted capabilities, and scaling its deployment across primary care and specialty settings. The move comes at a critical time, as an aging population and the shift toward value-based care models place unprecedented pressure on health systems to address cognitive health more proactively and efficiently.

A Digital Response to a Growing Cognitive Health Crisis

The gap between the prevalence of cognitive impairment and its formal diagnosis is widening into a chasm. Globally, an estimated 57 million people were living with dementia in 2021, a figure expected to nearly triple by 2050. The economic toll is staggering, with global costs projected to reach $14.5 trillion by mid-century. In the United States alone, one in ten people over 65 have Alzheimer's dementia, and millions more live with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Despite these numbers, primary care clinicians—the front line of healthcare—are often ill-equipped to manage this crisis. Constrained by limited time, a lack of specialized training, and inadequate tools, they struggle to perform comprehensive cognitive assessments during routine visits. This results in a significant “diagnosis gap,” where conditions like MCI and early-stage dementia go undetected, delaying critical interventions and care planning.

Digital platforms like BrainCheck are emerging as a crucial part of the solution. By offering rapid, standardized, and clinically validated assessments that can be administered in-clinic or remotely, they provide a scalable way to embed cognitive screening into routine care. This digital transformation is not just about convenience; it is about creating a new infrastructure to support population-scale cognitive health management.

Redefining Care Pathways in a Value-Based World

BrainCheck's strategy extends far beyond simple assessment. The company is focused on operationalizing cognitive care, transforming a one-off test into a continuous, integrated care pathway. This approach is particularly vital for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and health systems operating under value-based and risk-bearing contracts, where they are financially responsible for patient outcomes and population health.

The new funding will help BrainCheck deepen its partnerships with collaborative care organizations, providing not only digital tools but also operational models for practices that lack the internal staff to manage comprehensive cognitive care. This enables health systems to identify at-risk patients earlier, activate structured follow-up care, and monitor cognitive function over time in a sustainable manner.

“Physicians have limited time to address cognitive care,” said Stephen Bekanich, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of BrainCheck. “Accountable Care Organizations and value-based care models are increasingly responsible for identifying cognitive impairment earlier and managing it longitudinally across large patient populations. We are seeing the emergence of collaborative care structures designed to support that accountability. BrainCheck provides the standardized, scalable infrastructure that enables these models to operate effectively.”

Seamless integration with Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems like Epic and Athena is a cornerstone of this strategy. By embedding its tools directly into existing clinical workflows, the platform reduces the administrative friction that has long been a barrier to widespread cognitive testing, allowing data to flow directly into the patient record to inform care decisions.

AI and Clinical Rigor Set the Standard

In a crowded digital health market, BrainCheck distinguishes itself through a commitment to clinical validation and the responsible use of artificial intelligence. Its flagship product, BrainCheck Assess™, is an FDA Class II medical device, a designation that requires rigorous validation, quality control, and regulatory oversight that many wellness-focused apps lack. With over 640,000 assessments completed to date, the platform has built a robust dataset that powers its analytical capabilities.

Peer-reviewed studies have demonstrated that the company's assessment tool can accurately distinguish between normal cognition, MCI, and dementia with high sensitivity and specificity, showing strong correlation with traditional pen-and-paper tests like the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) while providing more granular data across cognitive domains.

Crucially, the company frames its AI as a tool for clinical assistance, not replacement. The platform uses AI to analyze population-level data, identify trends, and flag at-risk individuals, but interpretation and care decisions remain firmly in the hands of the clinician.

“This capital allows us to continue building tools and workflows that fit how clinicians actually practice,” said Chris Loughlin, Chief Executive Officer of BrainCheck. “We are focused on reducing friction in cognitive assessment, supporting longitudinal care, and using AI responsibly to assist, never replace, clinical decision-making.”

Strategic Capital Fuels a System-Wide Transformation

The composition of the investment round underscores the strategic importance of BrainCheck's mission. Lead investor Next Coast Ventures has a track record of backing innovative companies disrupting large markets, while UPMC Enterprises, the venture arm of the integrated health system UPMC, provides a unique synergy as both an investor and a clinical partner.

“Cognitive health is becoming a greater priority across the healthcare system, and the infrastructure supporting it must evolve as well,” said Mike Smerklo, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Next Coast Ventures. “BrainCheck is contributing to that evolution by bringing greater consistency, objectivity, and longitudinal insight into cognitive care. We’re excited to support the company’s next phase of growth.”

The involvement of UPMC Enterprises is a powerful vote of confidence, as its clinicians have been using the platform in real-world practice.

“UPMC clinicians have been evaluating BrainCheck for several years and have seen firsthand how standardized digital cognitive assessment can support them in real-world practice,” said Adele Towers, M.D., M.P.H., a UPMC geriatrician and senior clinical advisor to UPMC Enterprises. “We look forward to our continued engagement with BrainCheck and bringing it to more clinicians supporting patients who could benefit from earlier detection, long-term monitoring, and scalable cognitive care within and beyond our health system.”

This funding arrives as the landscape of cognitive care is being reshaped by the emergence of new blood-based biomarkers and novel therapies for Alzheimer's disease. These advancements make early and objective cognitive assessment more critical than ever, as it serves as the essential starting point for risk stratification, guiding referrals, and enabling the structured follow-up necessary to manage this new continuum of care. By embedding repeatable, objective measurement directly into clinical practice, BrainCheck is positioning itself as the foundational digital infrastructure for this new era of cognitive healthcare.