Brain Resource ($BRRZY), an Australian provider of web-based products for brain research, has landed in San Francisco with $10 million to ramp up its presence in the research, patient care and consumer markets, the firm announced. The San Francisco office will serve as the company's new U.S. headquarters and place it in the midst of one of the world's great tech clusters.
Och-Ziff Capital Management Group made the $10 million investment in Brain Resource, which is listed on the Australian exchange under the symbol "BRC" and trades over the counter as "BRRZY." Blue Square Capital Management, founded by former Barnes & Noble.com chief executive Jonathan Bulkeley, is among the software company's other investors.
While Brain Resource's products are used to evaluate the brain functions of people for employers and consumers, the firm's technology is also being used in a large study that aims to support the discovery of treatment prediction markers and, based on genetics and brain markers, predict whether patients will respond to meds for depression and ADHD. The company's website also says its platforms support pharmaceutical trials. London-based drug giant AstraZeneca ($AZN) is listed as one of the employers that has used the firm's web-based brain-assessment tool on its workers.
"We chose San Francisco because it is the global center of technology and innovation, which enables us to attract high-profile talent and continue to expand our scalable web-based brain products," Evian Gordon, the company's chairman and CEO, said in a statement. "Because brain health products have gone mainstream, establishing our presence and visibility in the U.S. allows us to better compete in the brain training and behavior change markets."
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