X-trodes and the EIC Accelerator: Sleep Tests on a Skin Patch

X-trodes, based in Herzliya, Israel, makes Smart Skin, thin dry printed electrode patches with a small wireless recorder that capture brain waves, eye movements, muscle and heart signals outside the clinic, based on a decade of research in Professor Yael Hanein's neuro-engineering laboratory. It was selected in the EIC Accelerator's March 2023 cut-off with blended finance and received an EU grant of €2.46 million for S-trodes, a €3.67 million project that ran from November 2023 to January 2026, according to CORDIS. The aim was a medical-grade sleep test people can use at home, to replace overnight polysomnography in sleep laboratories, with the clinical validation needed for use in Europe.

The only public report, to October 2024, says X-trodes redesigned its recorder and patches for sleep, produced and verified a first batch, developed algorithms to detect sleep spindles and REM sleep without atonia, and made "significant progress" on automatic sleep scoring, expected to be completed in 2025, according to the CORDIS reporting page. It said preliminary tests indicated "a possibility to perform the CE submission ahead of time". No CE mark, validation results or launch of the sleep system have been announced since.

Where X-trodes Stands Now

The US Food and Drug Administration cleared X-trodes System M in February 2024 for electrophysiological monitoring in healthcare and home settings, according to the FDA 510(k) database, and the company said it would pursue further validation "with an initial focus on the cardiovascular and sleep monitoring markets", according to PR Newswire. Its website offers its systems to researchers and lists recent posts on facial muscle sensing for human-machine interfaces, a different market. Its newest blog archive entries date from September 2025. Revenue and funding figures are not public.

The Technology: A Sleep Lab You Wear

A polysomnography test means a night in a sleep laboratory wired to sensors, which the report calls costly, hard to access and an unnatural sleep environment. X-trodes' patches stick to the face and body, record the same kinds of signals, and send them to the cloud for analysis. The report says sleep disorders affect a third of the world's population and are often undiagnosed. A home test must match the lab's accuracy to replace it, and that comparison for the sleep system has not been published.

What the EIC Award Promised, and What the Record Shows

The award promised to optimise the platform and carry out the clinical validation needed for a CE-marked home sleep test. The first year delivered hardware and algorithms. The validation, the auto-scoring software and the CE submission were due later; none is on public record, and there is no final report.

1. Sleep hardware redesignDeliveredFirst batch verified.
2. Sleep algorithmsPartialAuto-scoring unfinished, 2024.
3. Clinical validationUnverifiedNo results published.
4. CE markNot announcedNone found.

The Money

The EU paid 67% of the project. X-trodes received the award as blended finance, but whether the EIC Fund invested, and how much, has not been published. No private funding round has been announced on its website or in the press found for this article.

What Cannot Be Checked

Why Europe Should Care

Sleep disorders are often unrecognised, the report says, and a validated home test would let far more people be diagnosed. X-trodes has credible technology and leading European sleep scientists as advisers. The EIC paid for the step from promising patches to a certified sleep test, and that step is not on public record.

The Verdict

X-trodes and the EIC have not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records and published statements, linked throughout.