Best Brain wins Antwerp pitch competition at DLD Festival in Tel Aviv

The Israeli healthcare start-up Best Brain wins the Antwerp pitch competition at the DLD Festival in Tel Aviv. Best Brain develops ‘neurofeedback headsets’ that can be used at home without doctor supervision.

Startups.be and the City of Antwerp organize an economic working visit to Israelthis week, in collaboration with Flanders Cleantech Association (FCA) and i-Cleantech Vlaanderen. The mission focuses – amongst other things – on two important growth sectors for Antwerp: digital innovation and cleantech. It takes place simultaneously with the prestigious DLD Festival.

“The timing is no accident”, says delegation leader and Vice Mayor for Economy Caroline Bastiaens. “Our city thinks it is important that Antwerp companies are given sufficient opportunities to grow and internationalize. At DLD our delegation has had the chance to meet interesting trade contacts, to explore possible business opportunities and to exchange knowledge with Israeli companies.”

Antwerp organized its own seminar during the festival, emphasizing the city’s assets with regard to digital innovation and cleantech in the presence of Israeli companies and investors. More than 120 international visitors attended the session.

Pitch competition 

One of the highlights of the seminar was the pitch competition. No less than 63 Israeli start-ups applied to come and pitch their enterprise in front of a professional jury, consisting of alderwoman of Antwerp Caroline Bastiaens, Edna Pasher (Israel Smart Cities Institute), Liora Shechter (CIO of City of Tel Aviv), Lode Uytterschaut (Startit@KBC), John Baekelmans (IMEC) and Joris Moorthamers (City of Antwerp).

Five strong start-ups were selected for the actual competition, that was won by the start-up Best Brain.

Best Brain develops ‘neurofeedback headsets’ that can be used at home without doctor supervision. Neurofeedback consists of direct training of particular brain functions so the brain learns to function more efficiently. This can be used to address problems of brain deregulation, such as memory deficit, migraine, attention deficits etc.

Best Brain will be invited to Antwerp for a month, free of charge, to find business opportunities in the city. They will receive an office in the Boerentoren of Start it @kbc, so that it can make the most of the incubator’s strong network for a month. “Best Brain has a strong resonation with Antwerp’s eHealth objective of developing innovative healthcare solutions that can change everyday lives of people”, commented chairman of the jury Caroline Bastiaens.

The other Israeli startups that pitched for the Belgian delegation, were Amplifai (IoT mobility), Shield IoT (IoT Security), Loginno (smart logistics) and Mobile Physics (IoT Environment).