S2 Episode 1: Alfred - improved quality of life for the cognitively impaired, with Ellis Parry of Neumind

My first guest of Series 2 is a great example of a mission-driven Impact Entrepreneur. Ellis Parry is co-founder and CEO of an exciting healthtech startup that he was driven to build as a result of a personal tragedy back in 2012. He managed to complete his engineering degree and phd at Oxford before the business could properly launch in 2019, but he and his team have achieved an enormous amount since then. 

Neumind is a digital therapeutic that is focused on the alarmingly-high number of people who suffer cognitive impairment due to brain injuries that are caused by trauma or result from a stroke. Ellis and his team have developed an app called Alfred that has been shown to dramatically improve the quality of life and independence of users as they go through long term neurorehabilitation. 

He talks about the whole journey, from the traumatic, life-changing event that gave rise to the idea, how winning a university competition was a defining moment, how he bonded with his brand new co-founder on an accelerator program in the Baltic Sea, and the importance of grant funding for impact-driven start-ups, particularly in healthcare. 

Some of the statistics he mentions are disturbing: both the numbers of people affected and the small proportion who receive any formal clinical neurorehabilitation. Neumind’s solution goes well-beyond the limitations of brain training apps, and involves taking the idea of cognitive training and puts it into the context of a person’s everyday life.  

Thanks to the Aspect Student Accelerator Programme (hosed by LSE) for bringing Ellis and Neumind to my attention. If you’d like to find out more and follow their progress, you can sign up on www.neumind.co.uk