Mental health is one of the major medical challenges of the coming decades. And yet, for 30% to 50% of patients around the world, the treatments available simply do not work. It is precisely this therapeutic dead end that Sonomind intends to break through. With a 20 million euro Series A closed in May 2026, the Paris-based startup is taking a decisive step: the one that turns a scientific promise into clinical reality.
Analysis by the experts at Auris Finance, advisors in mergers, acquisitions and financial engineering.
Sonomind has announced a 20 million euro Series A, led by Critical Path Ventures and Bpifrance through the French Tech Seed and Deep Tech 2030 funds, as part of the France 2030 plan. The fundraising will enable Sonomind to launch the clinical phase of its development, with randomised, double-blind and multicentre trials, paving the way for marketing authorisation by 2029.
This Series A follows on from a 3 million euro seed round completed in 2025, comprising 2 million euros in equity provided by Critical Path Ventures and 1 million euros of public funding through France 2030, which made it possible to finalise the development of the first version of the technology platform.
A breakthrough technology rooted in 25 years of fundamental research
Founded in 2025, Sonomind is initially targeting resistant depression, a condition affecting 30 to 50% of people living with depression worldwide. Its approach is based on low-intensity focused ultrasound, used to stimulate the brain regions involved in psychiatric disorders. Thanks to a custom-made acoustic lens, the device can precisely target deep brain structures, without surgery or implants, and sessions can be carried out without hospitalisation.
The technology draws on 25 years of research conducted at the Physics for Medicine Institute by Professors Mickael Tanter and Jean-François Aubry. The first clinical results, obtained at Sainte-Anne Hospital and published in 2025 in the journal Brain Stimulation, show a reduction of more than 60% in symptom severity after five consecutive days of treatment, with no significant adverse effects reported.
In 2025, Sonomind received the Marcel Dassault Prize for innovation in mental health. More recently, in March 2026, the company won the Medtech Trophy at the fifth edition of the HealthTech Trophies, organised by France Biotech.
A technology platform with multiple potential indications
What strengthens the investment case behind this fundraising is the potential reach of the technology well beyond its initial indication. In addition to resistant depression, the technology shows strong potential for extension to other neurological and psychiatric conditions, such as anxiety, addictions, Parkinson’s disease, essential tremors, post-stroke recovery and chronic pain.
Based in Paris, Sonomind has 20 employees and benefits from the support of Bpifrance, Agoranov, Wilco and the Île-de-France region.
Financing structure as a strategic signal
The quality of the investor base reflects the conviction in the technology’s potential. Nicolas Foessel, Managing Director of Critical Path Ventures, puts it clearly: “Sonomind illustrates what French deeptech does best: turning decades of fundamental research into concrete solutions for patients. The scientific rigour of the founders and their teams, combined with a genuine clinical vision, convinced us to support them at this critical stage.”
For Bpifrance, what matters most is the potential impact on patients. François Charbonnier, Investment Director at Bpifrance, notes: “We were very quickly struck by the level of impact of the project, just as much as by the quality of Sonomind’s founders. We are delighted to support them in their structuring and regulatory journey, driven by the ambition to make a technology with such promise in mental health fully accessible.“
Jérémy Bercoff, CEO of Sonomind, sums up the ambition driving the company: “Today, one in three people with depression does not respond to any available treatment. We refuse to see this as inevitable. With focused ultrasound, we can offer them a real alternative: non-invasive, precise and effective. That is the ambition that has driven us from the start. This fundraising gives us the means to prove it on a large scale.“
A high-potential market against the backdrop of a global mental health crisis
The fundraising comes in a particularly favourable market environment. The global market for the treatment of resistant depression is expected to grow from 1.95 billion dollars in 2023 to 4.06 billion dollars by 2030, at a compound annual growth rate of 11%.
More broadly, the global antidepressant market was valued at 18.7 billion dollars in 2024 and is expected to grow by 7.5% between 2025 and 2034, largely fuelled by greater awareness of mental health and rising demand for effective treatments for depression and related conditions. In this context, breakthrough innovations like Sonomind’s, which are non-invasive, precise and free from the side effects of conventional drug treatments, represent a major competitive advantage in capturing a share of this rapidly expanding market.
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