[image] Launched in 2003, Mentalytics has been at the forefront of commercial neurotech for as long as the industry has been around. Their flagship product, Mindball, has been sold to science centers across the entire globe. After a long-awaited pivot towards software, and a couple of years of development, the company is now ready to take on the challenges of productivity and performance in the workplace. The majority of existing shareholders defended their stake in the company. Joining them were a varied group of angel investors which fulfilled the quota regarding the added value which Mentalytics was looking for with this round of funding. Among that group where experienced investors like Skagen founder Åge Westbøalong with previous fund manager at Skagen, Filip Weintraub. "There is a growing demand for tools and techniques that help individuals improve their focus and concentration in today's fast-paced world, where distractions are ubiquitous. The need to stay productive and focused is increasingly essential, both for personal well-being and professional success." says new investor, Filip Weintraub. With exciting pilots from major automotive companies like Kia Motors and Jaguar Land Rover, the Mentalytics team now wants to expand its efforts towards the manufacturing industry. The capital will be used to; Initiate and build the proper sales channels in order to access the various sub-sectors of manufacturing; scale operations across Europe; advance the platforms analytics and data visualization; and further investigate which KPIs can be positively impacted by focus training. Existing shareholder & Carflip CEO, Emil Söderlund, had this to say about the round: "With the pivot towards the automotive industry, which we ourselves operate in, we wanted to defend our stake in the company. The news regarding Kia and Jaguar are exciting and we thought that the cause for the funding round was something we could get behind." Now Mentalytics looks towards utilizing their added value and experience together with the funds, and execute on their Go-To-Market Plan. "We want to build a solid foundation within manufacturing through pilot cases and results-based-data, and later use this foundation to scale our operations across all of Europe at the start of 2024." CEO of Mentalytics, Charlie Ohlén.

Kia Motors in Slovakia looked for a focus training product that could help them identify and improve the mental well-being of their production operators such as stress and lack of focus. The goal is to improve quality of life for the production operators and thus quality in production. For this purpose, they tested multiple products during spring 2020. Focus Mentalytics became the clear choice.  ”We searched for gamified focus and stress reducing training games. I asked around and it was clear that Mentalytics is the primary  leader with products I was looking for” says Vladimíra Sarvašová Mwazighe, Manager and Head of Education and Training at Kia Slovakia s.r.o..     Mentalytics product offering, Focus Mentalytics, consists of the Platform, the Training Module, and the Headband. The EEG headband has sensors that measure the electrical signals from the brain, e.g., focus. EEG  has been used within clinical medicine since the 1960s. It is the technique used in scientific studies related to focus. Mentalytics was one of the first companies in the world using the technique for commercial products, The software helps users train and improve their focus while providing deep analysis of their progress. The goal of the training is to get a better understanding and thus gain control of one's focus. “Mentalytics provides immediate nonverbal feedback to the trainee on his/hers  actual well-being, what works and what could be changed. So simple and straightforward for desired result improvement” says Marek Kozárik, Shift Leader Assembly Kia Slovakia s.r.o. To use Focus Mentalytics, you put on the EEG headband, connect it via Bluetooth, log in to the platform and launch the training module; a futuristic racing game that responds to the player's focus in real time. After approximately ten minutes of training, you return to the platform and analyze the results. Through years of experience Mentalytics has developed a training program that spans over 30 days, where the goal is to ensure a positive outcome for the user. “After successful result of neuroscience-based stress and work life balance development training we have decided to pilot 30Dayschallenge  with Mentalytics in production and the result is very pleasing, 35% improvement of quality miss faults in average following 3 months. This result was measured during the worst days of pandemic Covid 19 crisis.  We plan to test furthermore and give feedback to  Mentalytics helping them develop the focus program for our production operators.” says Vladimíra Sarvašová Mwazighe.      The platform also provides a connection between focus and various (self-estimated) health parameters which brings additional info to the coach/team manager about the well-being of the person. “We were also analysing the impact of shift rotation on production workers. It has opened our eyes to several factors directly on the production line where we acted with immediate issue solutions.  This product is an eye opener for each production leader as you see results directly on the spot.  Wellbeing of production operators is a key element to their results and their internal wellbeing“ says Marek Kozárik. With these excellent results, Kia  will now further evaluate how Focus Mentalytics can be implemented at Production shop floors.  "To be able to implement and use our products in such a large organization as Kia is an excellent opportunity for us to display the benefits of focus training whilst also having a direct positive impact on the welfare of the users", says Charlie Ohlén, CEO Mentalytics