Brain game development: Lumos Labs raises $3 million
Since we launched Lumosity last year, we’ve heard lots of feedback from users saying you love the brain games, and the feeling of getting smarter and seeing your improvement. One thing many of you have requested is more exercises and games. Well, we’ve just raised $3 million from 2 top venture capital firms, as well as some really smart individual investors, in order to keep improving Lumosity so it’s always the best site for brain training.
Our new partners are FirstMark Capital and Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), and together we will be able to continue our research into how to increase brain performance and maintain brain health in the best – and most enjoyable – ways possible.
The official press release is on the next page.
Brain Fitness and
Game Development Organization Raises $3 Million to Further Research
Brain researchers’ quest to improve brain fitness advanced by
FirstMark Capital and Norwest Venture Partners investment
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – June 3, 2008 – Lumos Labs, developer of Lumosity.com, the leading web-based provider of scientifically-tested brain games, today announced that it has raised $3 million of equity financing from FirstMark Capital, Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), and existing investors including Michael Dearing.
The investor group brings expertise that will catalyze the ongoing development of Lumosity.com and support Lumos Labs’ mission to improve lives by enhancing brain fitness.
“Lumos Labs is at the center of a booming interest in cognitive exercise and the emerging science about the remarkable plasticity of the brain,” said Amish Jani of FirstMark Capital. “Lumosity.com has seen tremendous demand from users and partners alike by leveraging the power of the web to deliver a unique platform for brain fitness.”
Lumosity.com’s programs consist of game-like exercises designed to train and improve cognitive functions. The programs target different parts of the brain, and are experimentally tested with the help of collaborators at top academic institutions. Users pay a monthly subscription to use the program and track their progress with detailed performance reports and feedback.
“In our analysis, Lumosity.com stood out from its competitors because of its best-in-class combination of engaging games and scientific rigor,” said Tim Chang of Norwest Venture Partners. “This unique combination has led to a strong market demand for Lumosity.com’s offerings and has created a leader in the emerging market for brain fitness.”
“We’re excited to take basic neuroscience and psychology findings out of the lab and deliver them to consumers in a way that is actually improving their lives,” said Michael Scanlon, Chief Scientific Officer of Lumos Labs. “This investment will enable us to significantly expand the diversity of games we offer, while further advancing the field through creative innovations and research with our academic collaborators.”
About Lumos Labs
Founded in 2005, Lumos Labs, Inc. creates innovative neuroscience-based tools that empower people to lead better lives through improved brain health and performance. Lumos Labs is a pioneer in developing scientifically designed and experimentally tested online brain fitness programs. The company works in collaboration with leading scientists in neuroscience and cognitive psychology from Stanford, UCSF, and other leading research institutions to bring beneficial and innovative products to market. Lumosity.com is the online brain performance program researched and developed by Lumos Labs, and is scientifically demonstrated to improve cognitive function in adults through a series of engaging exercises and brain games. For more information, please visit www.lumosity.com.
About FirstMark Capital
FirstMark Capital is the direct venture investment arm of Pequot Capital Management, Inc. FirstMark is focused on today’s most dynamic startup and growth-stage companies in the technology industry. For more than a decade, FirstMark has partnered with talented entrepreneurs and experienced managers to build market-leading enterprises. With nearly $2 billion in capital commitments, FirstMark brings energy, insight and substantial sector expertise to create competitive, sustainable businesses and long-term value. FirstMark Capital will continue to invest in high-growth businesses which are leading the technology revolution. Select investments include: Netgear, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTGR); First Advantage Corp. (NASDAQ: FADV); StubHub, Inc (Acquired by eBay, Inc.); Netegrity, Inc. (Acquired by CA Inc); Flarion, Inc. (Acquired by Qualcomm, Inc.); OutlookSoft Inc. (Acquired by SAP AG); Analex Corp. (Acquired by QinetiQ); Vallent (Acquired by IBM) and Syndesis (Acquired by Subex). For more information, please visit http://www.firstmarkcap.com/.
About Norwest Venture Partners (NVP)
Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) is a global venture capital firm that has actively partnered with entrepreneurs to build great businesses for more than 45 years. NVP focuses on investments in information technology including: Internet, media and consumer, software, services, enterprise and communications systems and semiconductor/components. The firm currently manages more than $2.5 billion in venture capital out of its office in Palo Alto, California. NVP has funded over 400 companies in the U.S. since inception. Some of the firm’s recent investments and transactions include Adventity, Airespace (acquired by Cisco Systems), deCarta, DoubleFusion, Jigsaw, KACE, mBlox, Omneon, Open-Silicon (acquired by Unicorn Investment Bank), Persistent Systems, Rackspace, SideStep (acquired by Kayak), Spinnaker Networks (acquired by Network Appliance), Winphoria Networks (acquired by Motorola) Yatra, and Yipes (acquired by Reliance/Flag Telecom). NVP has also funded such market leaders as Actel Corporation, Cerent (acquired by Cisco Systems), Documentum, Extreme Networks, Forte Software (acquired by Sun Microsystems), PeopleSoft and Tivoli Systems (acquired by IBM). For more information, please visit www.nvp.com.
Jun 04, 2008
Hello-Please accept my appreciation for
your website!!!
I am 78 years old and feel so great after doing the excercises.
Also I have referred my “BOOMER” children to this innovative exercising of the brain.
The two B’s exercised–Brain and Braun!
Aurora74
Jun 04, 2008
Thanks, Aurora74!
Jun 10, 2008
Entertraing games and, as somebody working in the field of neuroscience, I can see the benefits. However, it needs to be constantly updated, new games addedd, old games improved and perhaps a bulletin containing information and links about advances in neuroscience.
Jun 11, 2008
Glad to see some new games are coming on track.
I’m in danger of becoming a bit bored with the old ones and the ones where I don’t seem to be able to progress at all. Has anyone yet made it above level 7 in Birdwatching? Or managed to get beyond the extreme level in the Monster Garden??? (this is of course my subtle way of boasting….)
Jun 14, 2008
I managed to get the “impossible level” in Monster Garden- it is after the extreme level. Your BPI should give you an indication what level you are at for a given game. I believe 1400 is the highest BMI to achieve for a given game. I think I’m at 1360 for monster garden; hence, my guess is the impossible level is the most difficult for that game.
Jun 17, 2008
Hello Irene Henning
I have actually made it to level 10 in birdwatching and it is very hard indeed.
I take myself back down to level 9 or 8 to see if that will improve my observation skills. It doesn’t seem to be working just yet, however I’m quite determined to take it further.
Cheers
Debra
Jun 17, 2008
Weldone Lumos Labs(team),
You guys are good in making games what works, aswell games what looks good and now good in entrepreneurship. Great jobs, guys, i am aspecting more nowadays from you guys.
Don’t forget Lumosity community, they need our feedback to grow faster. Not only saying the way they need to walk, but also the flower on the road. Example they need to improve the old games(which is the road), what kind of improvement?(flower) Mabye by the raindrops green bubbles what gives you 2 time more points (and in the green bubble very difficult math(230 : 5)
Debra, billy and Irene i scored almost perfect with monster garden in impossible. It is quit easy nowadays for me the monster garden game. They should make for me difficulter i will email lumos labs soon with some ideas. (BPI 1532)
Birdwachting i am at the highest level and scored 34100 and BPI 1480.
I really like the BPI. Makes me want to do more games…
good luck people
Jun 18, 2008
Hi all,
first of all many thanks to lumosity team as they are doing great job.
Secondly I already scored perfect score in monster garden but only once – one must be very focused to reach that. Thus I would appreciate harder levels in this game. My best BPI in monster garden was 1537.
Anyway I find birdwatching very difficult for me (obviously my attention is quite bad) coz I did it only to level 7 so far (at 17″ monitor).
And I am really enjoying raindrops. I have max bpi 1487 and max score 17952 and I think there is a room for lot of improvement for me.
Lumosity team – just keep going in new games and thank you once again.
Jun 18, 2008
Yes. More games are needed, and some of the games have room for improvement. I hope you guys add more stuff soon, as the free alternatives are getting better and better every month and lumosity doesn’t seem to change. A dual n-back game based on the recent Jaeggi paper would be especially welcome.
Regarding birdwatcher to those who wondered about higher levels, I have unlocked level 10 but I usually find level 10 to be almost impossible. At my peak energy level when I feel at 100%, I can get some hits on level 10 but mostly misses. Most of the time though, I have to do it on level 9 (or even 8 if I’m not feeling so alert).
In general, I notice a fairly big difference in my scores depending on how I’m feeling, so my BPI seems to fluctuate quite a bit (plus or minus 50). Is this true of others too, or do you find your score is quite stable?
Jun 19, 2008
There are so many “quizzes” and “tests” on the internet that are fun but serve no real purpose other than mindless entertainment, a somewhat guilty pleasure, or a way to kill time…
Brain Games is the is the polar opposite of that, with the only thing in common being the entertainment factor!
What blows me away is how well these “games” work to sharpen brain skills and improve overall performance (not to bad for ones self confidence/esteem either!). After only 5 sessions I went from average scores to scoring a record score in the Bird Watching game! Who knew developing and improve our brains could actually be addictive AND easy AND fun???? In light of that, the possibilities now seem endless! I’m hooked!
Jun 26, 2008
Would you be able to create a painless way to learn to spell?
Jun 28, 2008
Finally! New games on the way. Sweet.
Some suggestions…
More variations of current games. Birdwatching has an awesome design and functionality. A side bonus is learning about differnt birds. A similar game could be built around fish (aquarium/undersea backgrounds), insects, flowers, etc. Would help prevent the games from getting ’stale’.
Posit Science offers a program with similar games, but based on audio rather than video. Frequency Distinguishing High/Low, an audio version of ‘concentration’ for memory, audio sequence recall, etc. Your games don’t have to be all visual.
Jun 29, 2008
Lumosity is a great site for keeping the brain healthy. I have been playing your games for quite some time and I see the improvement!
I am very happy that you have raised $3M for future projects. I look forward to play more games!
Deepak
Jul 06, 2008
Should I be discouraged and assume dementia is setting in if the memory games are hard for me to move forward on? I’m improving rapidly in all the other areas. I’ve been playing for 3 weeks.
Jul 08, 2008
this is my first day. i am recovering from
2 strokes a little over 4 yrs ago. i am rt.
handed but i use my left on the computer.
i love the challenge of these games.
please let me know how i am doing.
Jul 23, 2008
Congrats on the $3 million, Lumos. However, I think you have a problem with your BPI scoring system. I was under the impression that the maximum BPI in any given game was 1600 yet my attention BPI is 1616. My top score was 39700 on level 10 of birdwatching. Just F.Y.I. Thanks for doing what you do, the games are amazing.
- Joe K.
Jul 23, 2008
Thanks for all your comments and support!
Eileen, don’t be discouraged. Most people see different amounts of improvement in different areas. These differences do not usually indicate health problems.
Joe, a BPI score of 1600 represents the 99.9%, so it is theoretically possible to get higher than 1600, but very rare.
Jul 28, 2008
I was informed that 1700 was actually the highest score. I have a score of 1699 now in birdwatching. Is the 1700 actually attainable?
Dec 16, 2008
Hi!
I would like to see more detailed reports on BPI index, as in what is the average of your sample population in a specific exercise, in general and in each area. I feel like there is missing information on BPI at the moment. It would be nice to see how you are doing when compared to the rest, taking into consideration age, gender?, lumusity score, etc. In other words, Id like some statistics.
In fact, if you are looking for someone to conduct them, feel free to contact me.
Best regards,
Miks
Apr 26, 2010
I’d like to see auditory processing games added to Luminosity. How well we hear and process information has a lot to do with how we are able to function. Those of us who are getting older (who isn’t) would appreciate help with this part of our brains.