Columbia Entrepreneurs: DoBrain

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The Seoul-based team around Dobrain - along with their Global Lead Joe Lim, and CEO Yejin Choi - have been developing clinically tested, cognitive treatment tools since 2014. Their story-based tools target cognitively delayed children between 3 and 7, when treatment is most effective, and their animated app has been clinically proven to improve IQ by more than 5%.

Joe and Yejin will pitch DoBrain in the 6th annual CVC-SF Demo Night on Wednesday September 30th. Dobrain will be one of five teams who will participate in our first all-virtual Demo Night event.

This year’s events will be a little different than years prior. The San Francisco Demo Night will be focused on HealthTech. The all-virtual nature allowed more teams to apply from anywhere and will also allow a larger group of attendees. While we will miss the in-person event, we are excited to host all of you that might not have been able to travel to these cities. Remember to RSVP!

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Joe Lim, DoBrain’s Global Lead, has known Yejin, CEO, since DoBrain won Sweepstakes at the UN startup competition he was organizing.

He joined the team this year because he believes DoBrain's work will not only provide much-needed help to children with disabilities but will play a significant role in augmenting human capacity in the post-industrial age.

 

What has the evolution of dobrain been like and what challenges did the pandemic present to that growth process?

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DoBrain was born when three Seoul National University students (Korea's highest-ranking school) decided to volunteer and help children with learning difficulties. After realizing that there was an absence of a sophisticated treatment system developed for younger children, the founders decided to make treatment materials themselves.

Eventually, they were receiving requests for materials from rural areas in Korea, and by the fourth year they developed the app, DoBrain, to cater to these needs.

Since then, more than 450,000 users have experienced this app worldwide and they closed their $5.5M series A round earlier this year, but none of the founders found the time to graduate university.

The pandemic, for special needs families, "feels like a complete disaster" per the words of New York Times. The burden put on parents and the limited access to education/treatment provides little options for the family and exposes tremendous cracks in the support system.

DoBrain, in partnership with the Korean government, released services free to all students of special needs schools.

 

What makes your program superior?

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Computer-based therapy currently used by hospitals is expensive, unfit for children (word-based program) and unfortunately inaccessible. Our animated app offers engaging story-based content at 1/10 of the price, accessible in children's homes.

The app was clinically tested in more than 7 hospitals so far, with outstanding results such as 5% improved IQ for developmentally delayed children and an 8.5~13 IQ point increase for normal children.

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Thank you Joe! We look forward to hearing you pitch on September 30th. Don’t forget to RSVP!