Openwater
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Openwater does
Openwater (legal entity Open Water Internet, Inc.) is a San Francisco-based, privately held medical technology company founded around 2015 that develops wearable devices for non-invasive brain imaging and stimulation. Its two core platforms are Open-Motion, a wearable cerebral blood flow imaging system using laser-based diffuse correlation spectroscopy with FPGA-processed histogram data from multi-camera sensor modules, and Open-LIFU, a wearable headset delivering low-intensity focused ultrasound neuromodulation via 64-element 2D matrix arrays at 155 kHz or 400 kHz. Both products are investigational and labeled for research use only, and the company has published clinical results across LVO stroke diagnosis, treatment-resistant depression, glioblastoma oncology, and long COVID symptoms. The platform is built on open-source principles: hardware under CC BY-SA 4.0 and software under AGPL, with a public Patent Pledge, a GitHub ecosystem, Python SDKs (openlifu-python, openmotion-sdk), and integrations including 3D Slicer, EEG amplifiers, analog DAQ, and TMS/tACS stimulators. Openwater sells hardware via Order Forms to research institutions and clinical researchers (named deployments include MIT and Hospital del Mar Research Institute in Barcelona), offers annual Cloud Services subscriptions for photogrammetry processing, and provides fee-based Orientation and Training, Virtual Technical Support, Clinical-Technical Case-Day Support, and an optional Annual Platform Support and Maintenance (APSM) program. Investors include Bold Capital Partners, Khosla Ventures (Series 2 lead), Collaborative Fund, Plum Alley, Excel Venture Management, KittyHawk, and Starlight Ventures, with cumulative disclosed funding of approximately $76M including a $54M round in August 2024.
Openwater firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Openwater
- Legal name
- Open Water Internet, Inc.
- Website
- https://openwater.health
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Openwater is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Openwater business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Hardware Product Sales: Openwater sells Open-LIFU and Open-Motion hardware platforms (Console, Transducer/Sensor Modules, accessories) to research institutions and clinical researchers. Products are sold under research-use-only terms with a one-year limited warranty. Fees are set in Order Forms; the company ships FOB from its manufacturing facility.
- Cloud Services Subscription: Subscription-based cloud-hosted software and processing capabilities (photogrammetry reconstruction, spatial registration workflows) available on an annual subscription basis per named or concurrent users and processing unit quotas. Provided alongside the Openwater Photogrammetry app.
- Professional Services: Orientation & Training (on-site or remote), Virtual Technical Support, Annual Platform Support and Maintenance (APSM), Clinical-Technical Case-Day Support, and custom Professional Services (engineering, consulting, data analysis, study design). Billed on time-and-materials or fixed-price basis per Order Form.
- Annual Platform Support and Maintenance (APSM): Optional renewable annual support and maintenance program for eligible Products providing technical support, software updates, bug fixes, and repair/replacement coverage. Begins post-warranty and renews automatically unless cancelled.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| One time/ perpetual license | Multi-year contract | Research institution / enterprise hardware purchase — no public pricing |
| Subscription | Annual | Cloud Services subscription — annual subscription model |
| Subscription | Annual | Annual Platform Support and Maintenance (APSM) |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels7 records
Openwater product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Openwater develops wearable, open-source medical hardware platforms built on semiconductor manufacturing: Open-LIFU is a Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (LIFU) headset for non-invasive neuromodulation, and Open-Motion is a wearable optical cerebral blood flow imaging system using near-infrared diffuse correlation spectroscopy. Both platforms are sold as research-use-only devices to universities, hospitals, and clinical researchers via direct Order Forms, supported by AGPL/CC BY-SA 4.0 open-source hardware and software, Python SDKs, an annual Cloud Services subscription for photogrammetry, and optional Annual Platform Support and Maintenance.
Product overview
Openwater offers an open-source medical technology platform centered on two core therapeutic devices: Open-Motion (cerebral blood flow imaging using laser-based diffuse correlation spectroscopy with wearable sensor modules) and Open-LIFU (low-intensity focused ultrasound neuromodulation with wearable headset transducers). Both devices share supporting software infrastructure including cloud services for photogrammetry processing, desktop applications for device control and planning, Python SDKs/APIs for programmatic access, and Slicer extensions for advanced research integration. The platform is built on open-source principles with AGPL-licensed software and CC BY-SA 4.0 hardware designs. All products are investigational devices labeled for research use only.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Open-Motion: Wearable infrared light device for cerebral blood flow imaging and stroke diagnosis.
- Open-LIFU
Products and services
- Open-LIFU Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (LIFU) neuromodulation platform with wearable headset transducer containing one or two 64-element 2D matrix array transmit modules operating at 155 kHz or 400 kHz, paired with a Console (high-voltage power supplies, timing controllers) and a deformable hydrogel coupling pad. Supports programmable sonication sequences (focal pressure, pulse duration, pulse train parameters) and uses Android-based photogrammetry for spatial registration of the transducer to subject anatomy. Designed for research institutions and clinical researchers studying depression, stroke, glioblastoma, long COVID, autoimmune conditions, and BCI applications.
- Open-Motion Wearable optical cerebral blood flow imaging system based on near-infrared diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS). Each Sensor Module houses eight camera sensors (1920×1280 at 40 Hz) with on-module Lattice Crosslink FPGA processing generating 1024-bin histograms; the Console houses a 795 nm Class 1 laser (12 mW average power, 250–1000 μs pulse duration, 40 Hz repetition rate) with a fiber splitter and provides blood flow and volume metrics through a Python SDK. Designed for research institutions and clinical researchers studying stroke diagnosis, neurological monitoring, and multimodal physiological recording aligned with EEG, TMS/tACS, and analog DAQ systems.
- Openwater Cloud Services Subscription-based cloud-hosted software and processing capabilities for photogrammetry reconstruction and 3D mesh generation, interoperating with the Openwater Photogrammetry app and Open-LIFU system for spatial registration workflows. Licensed on an annual subscription basis per named or concurrent users with included processing unit quotas and potential overage fees; auto-renews annually unless cancelled with 30 days' notice.
Quantifiable outcome
- Response rates of up to 60% and remission in 35% of participants after three weeks of focused ultrasound neuromodulation treatment (University of Arizona research)
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Openwater
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Openwater technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration7 records
AI capability7 records
Feature5 records
Openwater partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- TIESA (Austria)coreTIESA, an Austrian-based mental health research company, is using Openwater's Open-LIFU platform for AI-driven, noninvasive neuromodulation research targeting depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions. The research aims to modulate the brain's Default Mode Network (DMN) using closed-loop focused ultrasound stimulation. Patient enrollment is expected to begin in early 2026. This partnership represents Openwater's integration of focused ultrasound into real-world research-driven care programs. The approach is supported by University of Arizona research showing response rates of up to 60% and remission in 35% of participants after three weeks of treatment.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights7 records
Openwater competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- Kernel: Kernel develops wearable, non-invasive brain measurement and stimulation devices using optical and electromagnetic methods. Conceptually adjacent to Openwater's vision of semiconductor-manufactured, wearable brain-interfacing hardware.
- Cordance Medical: Cordance Medical is developing focused-ultrasound platforms for blood-brain barrier opening and targeted drug delivery in brain disorders — closely aligned application area with Open-LIFU's neuromodulation focus and similar early-stage clinical positioning.
- NaviFUS: NaviFUS develops non-invasive focused-ultrasound systems for neurological indications including brain tumors and neurodegenerative diseases. Direct therapeutic-modality overlap with Openwater's LIFU approach.
- Hyperfine: Hyperfine has commercialized the FDA-cleared portable Swoop MRI system — an adjacent paradigm of making hospital-grade brain imaging accessible in non-traditional settings, mirroring Openwater's goals of displacing expensive infrastructure-dependent medical equipment.
- eNeura: eNeura markets a non-invasive transcranial magnetic stimulation device (SpringTMS) for migraine treatment — a relevant non-invasive brain stimulation peer with FDA clearance in a neurological indication.
Direct peers
- InSightec: InSightec develops FDA-cleared focused-ultrasound systems (e.g., Exablate Neuro) for incisionless neurosurgery including tremor, Parkinson's, and essential tremor — the most established direct competitor to Openwater's LIFU platform, working on the same therapeutic modality for the same indication categories.
- HistoSonics: HistoSonics commercializes histotripsy focused-ultrasound platforms for non-invasive tissue ablation. Same core technology (therapeutic focused ultrasound) targeting multiple disease areas via a platform approach analogous to Open-LIFU.
- BrainsWay: BrainsWay markets FDA-cleared Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation systems for depression, OCD, and other mental health conditions — a competing non-invasive neuromodulation modality targeting the same treatment-resistant depression use case Open-LIFU addresses.
- Soterix Medical: Soterix Medical manufactures non-invasive neuromodulation and neurodiagnostic devices including tDCS, tACS, and HD-tDCS platforms for research and clinical use — comparable technology category and customer base (research institutions and clinical researchers).
Broad incumbents
- NeuroPace: NeuroPace's RNS System is an FDA-approved closed-loop brain stimulation device for epilepsy. Comparable closed-loop neurostimulation philosophy and direct overlap with Openwater's AI-driven closed-loop stimulation road map.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Openwater social profiles
Digital presenceOpenwater compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Openwater financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Openwater leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Openwater funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds3 records
Investors9 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Openwater M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Openwater
What does Openwater do?
Openwater develops wearable, open-source medical hardware platforms built on semiconductor manufacturing: Open-LIFU is a Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (LIFU) headset for non-invasive neuromodulation, and Open-Motion is a wearable optical cerebral blood flow imaging system using near-infrared diffuse correlation spectroscopy. Both platforms are sold as research-use-only devices to universities, hospitals, and clinical researchers via direct Order Forms, supported by AGPL/CC BY-SA 4.0 open-source hardware and software, Python SDKs, an annual Cloud Services subscription for photogrammetry, and optional Annual Platform Support and Maintenance.
Is Openwater a public or private company?
Openwater is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Openwater founded?
Openwater was founded in 2015. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Openwater based?
Openwater is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Openwater make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Hardware Product Sales are the primary driver. The others are cloud Services Subscription, professional Services and annual Platform Support and Maintenance (APSM).
Who are Openwater's main competitors?
Emerging players on record are Kernel, Cordance Medical, NaviFUS, Hyperfine and eNeura. Direct peers are InSightec, HistoSonics, BrainsWay and Soterix Medical. NeuroPace is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Openwater have an API?
Yes. Python SDK (openmotion-sdk) provides programmatic device control, data acquisition, and visualization for Open-Motion systems. The SDK enumerates and connects to aggregators and console, reads and parses 16-camera histogram streams, computes blood flow and volume metrics, and provides real-time visualization and logging. Also available: openlifu-python with object-oriented interfaces for each Open-LIFU system component. Developer documentation is at github.com/OpenwaterHealth/openmotion-sdk.