Gen İlaç takes majority control of brain-health startup Neo Auvra
What's the deal? Turkish pharmaceutical company GenDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → İlaç ve Sağlık Ürünleri Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. (GENDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →) has taken majority control of digital health startup Neo AuvraDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, lifting its stake to 76.94%. GEN acquired an additional 41.79% — shares with a nominal value of TL 108,925 — from a previous holding of 35.15%, according to a disclosure to Türkiye's Public Disclosure Platform (KAP).
Why now? The move completes a four-year path from minority investor to controlling owner. GEN first backed Neo Auvra in January 2022 with a $1.2 million investment for a 9.09% stake.
How it built up: GEN later raised its stake to 32.39%, then converted a $700,000 convertible loan into equity and bought additional shares for $500,000, reaching 35.15% before this deal. It now holds both the ownership and voting rights.
What does Neo Auvra do? Founded in Istanbul in 2021 by Bekir Tarcan Kiper and Ömer Kerem Özçakıl, the company builds brain-health technologies spanning digital medicine and digital therapeutics. It combines virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), extended reality (XR), wearable sensors and biometric measurement to assess cognitive, socio-emotional and physical conditions.
What's the endgame? Neo Auvra's tools aim to produce objective readings of memory, attention and problem-solving, with uses in healthcare, rehabilitation and the early detection of cognitive decline. Its VR-based platform, NORA VRx™ Core I, is registered with the US Food and Drug Administration.
The signal: The deal shows a traditional pharmaceutical firm buying its way into digital diagnostics, converting an early venture bet into an operating asset rather than a passive holding.
Read more: bazaartimes.com
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
