Overview of Augmental
Augmental is an 10-person human-computer interface company based in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood. We build non-invasive devices that restore full digital independence to people with severe motor impairments — without surgery. Our team comes from MIT Media Lab, UC Berkeley, Neuralink, Apple, Microsoft, and iota Biosciences. We have been backed by SCI Ventures and Murata/WONDERSTONE, and have received a fundable NIH SBIR Phase I score ($391K, NICHD/NCMRR).
Our Ask
Funding to scale the MouthPad^, the world’s highest-bandwidth hands-free input device. Augmental is open to both dilutive and non-dilutive capital.
Product or Service
The MouthPad^ is a custom-fit palatal retainer with an embedded capacitive touch surface. Users control any Bluetooth device — cursor, clicking, scrolling, typing — using tongue, head, and breathing gestures. It achieves 9.98 bits per second, approaching Neuralink’s published 10.39 BPS, with 37.8% of users outperforming the best published invasive BCI. It runs 7+ hours on a single charge and is worn up to 16 hours a day. It is the only hands-free input device that is expressive, invisible, portable, fatigue-free, vent-compatible, and requires no surgery. We are now expanding the platform with MouthPad^audio, adding body-conducted speech capture for robust, private voice control — particularly important given that 93% of people with SCI have altered vocal quality that defeats standard speech recognition.
Company Impact
The MouthPad^ has 100+ active users today — 5x more than any implantable BCI system. 6k+ people are on our waitlist. We have generated 730+ press articles across 20+ tier-1 outlets (BBC, TechCrunch, Forbes, Wired, NBC) with zero paid marketing. We won the Grand Prix for Innovation at Cannes Lions and a CES Innovation Award. 104 clinics in the US have referred users to purchase devices, and 20 units have already been funded through state VR and ATP programs before Medicare or VA coverage is even in place. Our IP portfolio covers 11 patents across intraoral sensing, stretchable electronics, silent speech, and whisper speech detection — 3 issued, 1 PCT allowed, 7 pending.
Primary Audience
People with severe motor impairments who lack independent access to technology: spinal cord injury (14.5M globally, ~300K in the US), ALS (33K+ Americans), cerebral palsy (760K in the US), stroke with paralysis (~1.8M in the US), TBI with motor impairment (~1.3M in the US), and limb differences. These populations are currently underserved by decades-old assistive input devices (sip-and-puff, chin joysticks, eye trackers) that are visible, tethered, fatiguing, or incompatible with ventilator use.
Partnership Opportunity
Connecting Augmental with disability-focused philanthropists, foundations, and impact investors. Supporting access programs that cover device costs for users who cannot pay out of pocket. Facilitating introductions to SCI rehabilitation centers, VA medical centers, and state departments of rehabilitation. Amplifying our story within disability advocacy networks including United Spinal Association and similar organizations — we already have endorsements from leaders like Ian Burkhart (President of North American SCI Consortium) and Brian McCarthy, PhD (Associate Dean at Ohio University, C4 quadriplegic and MouthPad^ user).
Funding Needs
Augmental is raising a $5M Seed+ round.