General Sense

Cover Block

Metric	Value
Name	General Sense
Tagline	Decoding biological olfaction from animals into digital data to build the chemical sensing layer for AI. [SOSV]
Headquarters	Alachua, Florida [LinkedIn]
Founded	2020 [LinkedIn]
Stage	Seed [Wellfound, July 2024]
Business Model	Hardware + Software
Industry	Deeptech
Technology	AI / Machine Learning
Geography	North America
Growth Profile	Venture Scale
Founding Team	Co-Founders (2)
Funding Label	Seed (total disclosed ~$5,000,000)

Links

• Website: https://www.generalsense.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/generalsense

The Short Version

General Sense is building a chemical sensing layer for artificial intelligence by decoding biological olfaction from animals into digital data in real time [SOSV]. The company's ambition is to own a frontier data modality, positioning its technology as foundational infrastructure for AI's understanding of the physical world [SOSV]. Founded in 2020, the company emerged from DARPA-backed neuroscience research and operates under the former name Canaery [LinkedIn].

Its core product is a Nose-Computer Interface (NCI) that reads neural signals directly from a dog's olfactory bulb, translating them into a digital stream [SOSV]. This approach aims to scale the capabilities of detection dogs, starting with security and defense applications where animals are already deployed but whose data is not captured [LinkedIn]. The founding team is led by CEO Westley Dang, a PhD neuroscientist, and COO Gabriel Lavella, a former DARPA engineering advisor [SOSV, My TechDecisions].

Capitalization is not publicly disclosed in detail; a $4 million seed round led by Breakout Ventures in mid-2022 is the only round with a named lead investor [SOSV, 2022]. Over the next 12 to 18 months, the primary signal for progress will be the announcement of a first named commercial or government deployment, moving beyond the research collaboration with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory [eenewseurope.com].

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Core product claims are sourced from the company's investor (SOSV) and a technical publication, but funding details lack independent corroboration and market traction is unverified.

Taxonomy Snapshot

Axis	Value
Stage	Seed
Business Model	Hardware + Software
Industry / Vertical	Deeptech
Technology Type	AI / Machine Learning
Geography	North America
Founding Team	Co-Founders (2)
Funding	Seed (total disclosed ~$5,000,000)

The Company in Brief

The company operates as General Sense, a name adopted after an earlier period as Canaery [IndieBio, 2026]. Founded in 2020 and based in Alachua, Florida, the company's origin is rooted in DARPA-backed neuroscience research [SOSV]. The founding team includes Westley Dang, who serves as CEO, and Gabriel Lavella, the Founder and COO [SOSV]. Dang holds a PhD in Neuroscience from The Scripps Research Institute, while Lavella is a former DARPA engineering advisor [RocketReach, 2026], [My TechDecisions, 2022].

Key milestones follow a development-focused timeline. The company secured an undisclosed seed round in February 2021 [Crunchbase, 2021]. A $4 million seed round led by Breakout Ventures closed in June 2022 [SOSV, 2022]. Public records indicate a subsequent seed round of $5 million in July 2024, though investor details for this round are not confirmed [Wellfound, July 2024]. Technologically, the company developed its Nose-Computer Interface (NCI) in collaboration with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory [eenewseurope.com]. By 2025, it reported achieving the first real-time detection of chemical world data from neural activity [Internexxus, 2026].

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Founding details and the 2022 round are corroborated by multiple sources; the 2024 round and technological claims rely on single-source reports.

What They Have Built

The company’s product is a direct translation of its founding premise: a hardware-software system that intercepts and digitizes the chemical intelligence of a living animal. General Sense’s core offering is a Nose-Computer Interface (NCI), a piece of hardware that reads neural signals directly from a dog’s olfactory bulb and translates them into digital data in real time [SOSV]. This positions the system not as a tool to train a better dog, but as infrastructure for capturing a new data modality. The company describes this as building the chemical sensing layer for artificial intelligence, where every deployed animal feeds a shared model that grows smarter with each sniff [SOSV].

Technically, the system rests on DARPA-backed neuroscience research [SOSV] and has been developed in collaboration with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory [eenewseurope.com]. The public claim is that the NCI can help scent-detection animals simultaneously identify contraband like explosives and narcotics, as well as biomarkers for neurological and infectious diseases [eenewseurope.com]. A more recent, specific technical claim surfaced in 2026, stating the company had quietly built the world’s first real-time detection of the chemical world from neural activity using a very specific brain signal [Internexxus, 2026]. The product’s immediate applications are framed around security and defense, where detection dogs are already deployed but unable to scale [LinkedIn].

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Core product claims are consistent across the company's own materials and a partner lab publication, but third-party technical validation is absent.

Market Size and Demand

The ambition to digitize a fundamental biological sense for artificial intelligence places General Sense at the intersection of several large, established markets, but its immediate commercial path is defined by a narrow, high-stakes wedge.

Quantifying the total addressable market for a chemical sensing layer is speculative, as the company is creating a new data modality. A more concrete starting point is the existing market for biological detection, where the company aims to insert its technology. The global market for explosive, narcotic, and contraband detection systems was valued at approximately $6.8 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow to $10.5 billion by 2030 [MarketsandMarkets, 2022]. The medical diagnostics market, another cited long-term application, is orders of magnitude larger, with the point-of-care diagnostics segment alone exceeding $40 billion [Grand View Research, 2023].

Metric	Value
Explosive/Narcotic Detection (2022)	$6.8B
Point-of-Care Diagnostics (2023)	$40B

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Market sizing figures are from third-party analyst reports for analogous sectors, not specific to the company's product. The company's own market claims are qualitative and not quantified in public sources.

Who Else Is Fighting for This

General Sense operates in a competitive vacuum by design, defining a category where no direct commercial equivalent exists. The company’s stated ambition is not to compete with existing detection technology vendors but to create a new data modality, positioning its Nose-Computer Interface (NCI) as foundational infrastructure for chemical intelligence [SOSV].

A competitive map for chemical sensing and threat detection reveals several distinct layers. The incumbent layer consists of established technologies deployed in security and diagnostics: electronic noses (e-noses) from companies like Aryballe and Alpha MOS; mass spectrometry and gas chromatography equipment from vendors like Thermo Fisher and Agilent; and trained animal handlers. The challenger layer includes startups applying machine learning to sensor data, such as Koniku. The most adjacent substitutes are other brain-computer interface (BCI) companies operating in medical or consumer realms, like Synchron or Paradromics.

General Sense’s defensible edge today rests on three specific, interlocking assets: proprietary access to a frontier data type (real-time neural signals from the olfactory bulb), foundational neuroscience IP reportedly built on DARPA-backed research [SOSV], and a strategic collaboration with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory [eenewseurope.com].

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Competitive positioning is inferred from company statements and adjacent industry mapping; no direct competitive intelligence from third-party analysts is available.

Opportunity

If General Sense successfully decodes biological olfaction into a scalable data stream, it could create the foundational chemical sensing layer for a new generation of AI. The company's core thesis is that it is building the only infrastructure that collects this data and owns a frontier data modality, the chemical lobe for embodied intelligence [SOSV]. The plausibility of this outcome rests on the company's claimed technical milestone: the development of the world’s first real-time detection of the chemical world from neural activity using a specific brain signal [Internexxus, 2026].

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- The framing of the opportunity and technical milestones are drawn from company and partner sources (SOSV, Internexxus, eenewseurope.com). The growth scenarios are logical extrapolations from these stated capabilities and partnerships, but lack third-party validation of commercial progress. Valuation comparables are from public market reports.

Sources

1. [SOSV] General Sense - SOSV | https://sosv.com/company/general-sense/
2. [LinkedIn] General Sense | https://www.linkedin.com/company/generalsense
3. [Wellfound, July 2024] Wellfound funding page | https://wellfound.com/company/general-sense/funding
4. [My TechDecisions, 2022] New nose computer interface aims to upgrade rover's nose | https://www.rdworldonline.com/new-nose-computer-interface-aims-to-upgrade-rovers-nose-for-better-drug-detection-methods/
5. [SOSV, 2022] IndieBio’s Canaery locks in $4M for neurotech that knows what a dogs nose knows - SOSV | https://sosv.com/indiebios-canaery-locks-in-4m-for-neurotech-that-knows-what-a-dogs-nose-knows/
6. [Crunchbase, 2021] General Sense - Crunchbase Company Profile & Funding | https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/canaery
7. [RocketReach, 2026] Westley Dang Email & Phone Number | General Sense CEO Contact Information | https://rocketreach.co/westley-dang-email_113339726
8. [eenewseurope.com] Nose-computer interface (NCI) for scent-detection animals... | https://www.eenewseurope.com/en/nose-computer-interface-nci-for-scent-detection-animals/
9. [Internexxus, 2026] Summer Intern (Multiple Disciplines) - Internexxus | https://internexxus.com/internship/summer-intern-multiple-disciplines-3/
10. [IndieBio, 2026] IndieBio is Now SOSV NY & SOSV SF, Underscoring SOSV’s Leadership in Deep Tech - SOSV | https://sosv.com/indiebio-is-now-sosv-ny-sosv-sf-underscoring-sosv’s-leadership-in-deep-tech/
11. [General Sense] General Sense - Home | https://www.generalsense.com/
12. [MarketsandMarkets, 2022] Explosive Detection Market Size, Share, Growth | MarketsandMarkets | https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/explosive-detection-market-1002.html
13. [Grand View Research, 2023] Point Of Care Diagnostics Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report | Grand View Research | https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/point-of-care-diagnostics-market
14. [Bloomberg, 2021] Scale AI Is Now Worth $7.3 Billion in New Funding Round | https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-13/scale-ai-is-said-to-be-worth-7-3-billion-in-new-funding-round