Newfund closes €60M HEKA fund — Europe's first dedicated BrainTech VC — with $2.8B Q1 2026 market context
Summary
Newfund closed HEKA at €60M, the first European VC fund dedicated exclusively to BrainTech, after 3 years of building from €20M. The fund has 9 portfolio companies with 8 already operating in the US and 3 in Stanford StartX. Context: Newfund data shows $4.2B raised in BrainTech in 2025 globally and $2.8B already raised in Q1 2026 alone — 256% year-over-year growth. BrainTech now represents 19% of global digital health investment. Newfund's strategy: invest in European neuroscience, bridge to US FDA and commercialization.
Why it matters
HEKA closing at €60M after 3 years is a validation that institutional capital will specifically allocate to European BrainTech — a thesis that was far from obvious when the fund launched in 2023. The market data Newfund shared ($2.8B in Q1 2026) provides the best publicly available quarterly funding benchmark for the sector.
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