The Epilepsy Foundation of America awarded $250,000 at its 14th annual Shark Tank Competition on June 18, 2026, at the Foundation's Pipeline Conference in Leesburg, Virginia. The Investment Prize of $200,000 from the NeuroImpact Fund went to Sydney Cash, MD, PhD, and NeuroWeaves for thin gold‑thread EEG electrodes designed to stay in place without glue and record hospital‑quality EEG for 30+ days.

The Foundation also presented its 2026 Community Award to Jainu Jogani of the Child's Cure Genetic Research Foundation for testing allopurinol as a repurposed drug for CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder, a rare genetic epilepsy. The Community Award carries a prize value of up to $50,000. Final award payments are contingent on standard due diligence and execution of award agreements.

Five finalists pitched to live judges and the conference audience. Other Investment finalists included Mosaica Medicines, which is developing a new anti‑seizure medication for focal epilepsy, and Neurologic Solutions, which presented EpiScalp, software that produces an epilepsy risk score from a 20‑minute routine EEG. A separate finalist, Brin Freund, MD (Mayo Clinic Florida), proposed a new non‑invasive neuromodulation technique for drug‑resistant epilepsy.

Bernice "Bee" Martin Lee, chief executive officer of the Epilepsy Foundation of America, said the $250,000 reflects the Foundation's commitment to advancing therapies and community solutions for people with epilepsy. The competition is sponsored in part by the Danny Did Foundation.

The event also honored Joyce A. Cramer with the Epilepsy Foundation's Lifetime Accelerator Award for her work on clinical trial design, medication adherence research, and patient‑reported outcomes. More information on the Shark Tank Competition is available at epilepsy.com/sharktank.

Photo credit: mma.prnewswire.com

Tags: epilepsy, EEG electrodes, CDKL5, drug repurposing, seed funding

Topics: Neurotech industry & startups, Wearable neurotech, EEG & neuro-sensing headsets