Elon Musks Neuralink collects 650 million US dollars of fresh capital
Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty pictures
Elon Musks Brain Tech Startup Neuralink has completed a financing round of $ 650 million, the company said on Monday.
ARK Invest, Founders Fund, Sequoia Capital, Thrive Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners and other companies took part in the round, according to a press release. According to Neuralink, the new capital will help the company bring its technology more patients and develop new devices that “deepen the connection between biological and artificial intelligence”.
Neuralink builds a brain computer interface or BCI that is a system that translates brain signals into commands for external technologies.
The first system of the company called Telepathy includes 64 “threads” that are inserted directly into the brain. The threads are thinner than human hair and, according to the Neuralink website, record neuronal signals through 1,024 electrodes.
The initial goal of the technology is to help patients with severe paralysis to restore a certain independence. From Monday, five patients with the technology of Neuralink were implanted and can “control digital and physical devices with their thoughts,” says the press release.
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Neuralink currently conducts four separate clinical studies on telepathy system.
BCIs have been examined in science for decades, and several other companies, including synchronous, paradromics and precision neurosciences, are developing their own systems.
The Paradromik announced on Monday that it successfully implanted her BCI in humans for the first time.
It is not clear which devices are to be developed next, but Musk has entered for the startup of the Brain Tech startup for large ambitions for years. He even said that he was ready to get an implant himself.
One of the skills that Musk has repeatedly emphasized is the ability to restore blind patients.
Neuralink received a name “breakthrough devices” from the US Food and Drug Administration for a device called Blindsight. This name is granted for medical devices that have the potential to enable improved treatment for weakening or life -threatening diseases.
In a contribution in his social media platform X in September, Musk said that Blindsight would also enable those who have lost both the eyes and their optic nerve.
Neuralink still has a long way to commercialize these technologies.
REGARD: Neuralink shares a video of the patient that plays chess with signals from the brain implant
