New daysA Seattle startup that uses a generative AI therapy to treat people with mild dementia has added $4.5 million to a recent seed funding round.
The company confirmed the increase this week after GeekWire spotted a regulatory filing. Total funding is now $11.5 million, after NewDays previously announced a $7 million investment in early September.
The company offers telehealth consultations with doctors once or twice a month, combined with frequent, personalized conversations with an AI companion named Sunny. AI-driven conversations provide specific types of therapies, including cognitive stimulation, cognitive training, and cognitive rehabilitation.
Co-founder and founding CEOBabak Parviz launched the startup last year with the Director of InnovationDaniel Kelly. Parviz was a vice president at Amazon, where he led the company’s Grand Challenge initiative to discover new areas of operation. Prior to this role, he worked at Google X and ran the Google Glass team. Kelly previously supervised engineering teams at Amazon and Google X.
NewDays, which ranks 190th on the GeekWire 200 index of top Pacific Northwest startups, plans to use the new money to increase its investment in artificial intelligence technology and growth.
The startup, which charges a $99 monthly subscription and also accepts health insurance, says it is generating revenue but is not yet sharing information about how many customers it has attracted.
seattleMadrona Venture Groupand San FranciscoGeneral Catalystare the first supporters.
Parviz and Kelly appeared on the “Founded & Funded” podcast this week (below) with Madrona Managing Director Tim Porter, in which they reflected on why now is the time to tackle cognitive decline with AI, combining scientific rigor with human empathy.
“There was a huge unmet need and there was radically new technology available that could bring clinically proven interventions to large numbers of people,” Parviz said.
The conversation underscored how the pair’s experience at Amazon and Google shaped their drive for “meaningful velocity” – moving quickly not just to innovate, but to make a measurable difference in people’s lives.
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