Neurotech Notables #32: May 16-30, 2025
Late-Breaking News: Neuralink's $650m Series E
Hello Dear Readers,
Pardon the tardy delivery. This edition contains a whammy of neurotech industry updates from the back half of May, with $780m+ in new funding (led by you-know-who), several new first-in-human implants and clinical studies, and multiple new companies emerging from stealth.
You’ll also find the usual slate of commercial updates - new regulatory decisions, commercial launches, fresh events for your radar, plus industry and social commentary, and fresh research papers worth a closer look.
Other Updates
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NANS
Register today for Neural Interfaces 2025, next week in Arlington VA. Please note I will no longer be attending due to personal circumstances.
TTP
Keeping R&D progress on track: How to tackle risk in medical device development before it derails development - Read more
Datwyler
Open Position! Business Development Manager, Wearable Sensors based in Ontario, California (Datwyler)
Come meet the Datwyler team at VivaTech 2025 in Paris!
Card79
How Card79 Helped Neuralink design their Surgical Robot - Read More.
Funding
Neuralink raises $650 million Series E (Neuralink)
Investors include: ARK Invest, DFJ Growth, Founders Fund, G42, Human Capital, Lightspeed, QIA, Sequoia Capital, Thrive Capital, Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, raising valuation to $9b (Benzinga)
Salvia BioElectronics secures $60M in oversubscribed Series B to bring its pioneering migraine therapy to market (Salvia)
Alpheus Medical Raises $52M in Series B Round to Advance Groundbreaking Glioblastoma Therapy (Brain Tumor Investment Fund)
Imprint Labs Announces $15M in Funding to Decode the Immune System, Facilitate Chronic Disease Research (Imprint Labs)
“Imprint is a Focused Research Organization (FRO) building “forensic immunology” tools, aims to uncover the relationships between the immune system and chronic disease, including neuropsychiatric disorders”
Samphire Neuroscience raises over-subscribed $5m seed round (LinkedIn)
Investors include Inventure, Fortify Ventures and APEX, with follow-ons from from SOSV, AfterWork Ventures, Seaside Ventures, FIRSTPICK, Ayuh Ventures
NeurAxis Announces $5.0 Million Registered Direct Offering (SEC)
MassVentures Announces $4.5 Million in Grant Funding for 26 Deep Tech Startups (MassVentures)
Corundum Neuroscience Awards Research Grant to Identify Brain Regions for Immunity Neuromodulation (PR Newswire)
How Northwell Holdings operates, according to its CEO (Healthcare Brew)
Commercial
Vivani files with SEC to spin off neurostim business, focus on drug delivery implants (MassDevice)
Inspire Medical launches European registry for sleep apnea neuromod (Mass Device)
Neuralink launches first clinical trial in the Middle East at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi in partnership with Department of Health Abu Dhabi (LinkedIn)
Paradromics completes first human implant (CNBC)
Kernel launches 7 minute “BrainAge” neuroimaging Test (LinkedIn)
Natus Neuro launches BrainWatch AI-driven, point-of-care EEG (MassDevice)
Auxilium Biotechnologies launches pivotal trial for NeuroSpan Bridge implant (MassDevice)
Rune Labs and Parkinson’s Foundation Launch First Clinical Program to Correlate Genetic and Digital Biomarkers for Parkinson’s Disease (Business Wire)
Inner Cosmos shares data for psychiatric BCI tech (MassDevice | Inner Cosmos)
ICYMI: Here is my recent profile on Inner Cosmos’ journey to becoming the world’s first clinical-stage psychiatric BCI.
Zeto Inc. Joins Innovators Network at American Heart Association Center for Health Technology Innovation (Newswise)
Salvia BioElectronics appoints industry veteran Roni Diaz as VP Clinical & Regulatory Affairs (LinkedIn)
Beacon appoints Allison Braly as our new Vice President of Clinical Strategy and Operations (LinkedIn)
Cordance announces allowance of a U.S. patent application covering a foundational method for achieving safe and reliable opening of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) (LinkedIn)
ONWARD announces two more individuals with SCI implanted with ARC-BCI® Therapy, bringing the total users to five (LinkedIn)
CEFALY Technology Introduces CEFALY@Work: A Workplace Wellness Initiative for Employees With Migraine (PR Newswire)
Will this translate into a viable employer business model in today’s overcrowded benefits space? “CEFALY Technology's FDA-cleared wearable device is clinically proven to prevent and relieve migraine symptoms without the harmful side effects of migraine medication. Used by more than 200,000 patients and trusted in U.S. VA hospitals, CEFALY is based on more than 20 years of research.”
Medtronic announces intent to separate Diabetes business (Medtronic)
Regulatory
Empatica wins CE mark for epilepsy monitor (MassDevice)
Route 92 Medical wins FDA nod for reperfusion system, reports positive study findings (MassDevice)
Gradient wins FDA breakthrough nod for pulmonary artery denervation tech (MassDevice)
NeurAxis Awarded First Ever FDA Clearance for the Treatment of Pediatric FAP/Functional Dyspepsia (FD) and Associated Nausea Symptoms (Biospace)
Martin Makary outlines AI plans and the broader vision for his term as FDA commissioner (Fierce)
AdvaMed presses Congress for tariff exemptions on the medtech industry (Fierce Biotech)
Montana expands privacy protections to neurotech data (Neurorights Foundation)
📅 Neurotech Events Calendar
Just Updated! Here is a list of upcoming conferences, meetings, webinars, and other opportunities.
Industry
MintNeuro: Pioneering scalable semiconductor technology for next gen neural implants by Dorian Haci (Startups Magazine)
CraniUS Therapeutics Awarded Maryland Tech Council's "2025 Emerging Life Sciences Company of the Year" (PR Newswire)
Michael Mahoney Turned Boston Scientific Into a Medical Tech Empire (Investor's Business Daily)
Coming to a Brain Near You: A Tiny Computer (WSJ)
“It’s possible BCI one could one day become a medical-device giant in its own right. But most of these companies are likely to run out of money or get acquired by big medical-technology companies, first.”
Synchron co-founder unveils new brain-computer interface venture Ultra Bionics (Capital Brief)
Valve Founder’s Neural Interface Company to Release First Brain Chip This Year (RoadtoVR)
Starfish: Ultra-low power, miniature electrophysiological electronics (Starfish)
Meta: Emergence of Language in the Developing Brain (Blog Post | Paper)
Neurostimulation Devices Market to Reach USD 17.2 Billion by 2031 - Driven by Demand for Pain and Parkinson's Therapies (PR Newswire)
Neurostimulation Devices Market is Segmented by Type (Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS), Gastric Electric Stimulation (GES), Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), Sacral Nerve Stimulation (SNS), Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS)), by Application (Pain Management, Parkinson's Disease, Urinary and Fecal Incontinence, Epilepsy, Gastroparesis).
Global revenue was USD 8212 Million in 2024 and is forecast to a readjusted size of USD 17200 Million by 2031, with a CAGR of 11.3% during the forecast period (2024-2031).
Neurotech.TV
Neural Foundation Model Panel (Braingels)
Cognixion Featured on CBS News (Cognixion)
Groundbreaking Studies Recreate Human Brain Circuits in a Dish (StarTalk)
Society
When AI Speaks For You (Nita Farahany)
Public views vary widely about neurotechnologies for brain-based conditions (Mass General | Device)
Scam Alert: Bioelectronic Medicine Is Both Promising and Ripe for Fraud (Kiplinger)
Neuroscams: Buyers Beware (Psychology Today)
Issue No. 337: Wild Card: ADHD is up for debate (Fitt Insider)
Two nonverbal actors star in a new opera — with an assist from AI (NPR)
O'Shaughnessy Ventures Backs AI-Powered Dream Reconstruction with $100k grant to inventor, artist, researcher Ninon Lize-Masclef (PR Newswire)
Mind matters: Shaping the future of privacy in the age of neurotechnology (IAPP)
A New System Aims to Save Injured Brains and Lives (NYTimes)
Philips survey illustrates trust gaps in AI among patients, providers (Fierce Biotech)
“The medtech’s 10th annual Future Health Index report—which polled nearly 2,000 professionals and more than 16,000 patients across 16 countries—found a greater percentage of providers were optimistic about the ability of AI to improve healthcare outcomes, at 63%, while less than half of polled patients said they were convinced, at 48%.”
“Interestingly, the FDA’s stamp of approval alone did not seem to carry that much weight: Only 35% of surveyed patients listed examinations to ensure safety and effectiveness as a key process to building public trust in AI.”
Research
To Experience Emotion Is to Activate a Brain Pattern (NPR)
The 10,000 Brains Project Launches the Path ND Digital Brain Banking Program to Transform Neurodegenerative Disease Research (PR Newswire)
New auditory brainstem implant shows early promise (Science Daily)
Scaling of vagus nerve stimulation parameters does not achieve equivalent nerve responses across species (Bioelectronic Medicine)
Feinstein Institutes research finds new vagus nerve stimulation method targets specific fibers, shows promise for improving therapeutic efficacy (Northwell)
Biomimetic stimulation patterns drive natural artificial touch percepts using intracortical microstimulation in humans (Journal of Neural Engineering)
Seeing infrared: scientists create contact lenses that grant ‘super-vision’ (Guardian)
Soft, skin-interfaced wireless electrogoniometry systems for continuous monitoring of finger and wrist joints (Nature)
Astrocytes, hidden puppet masters of the brain (Science)
Trio of papers in Science explore GPCR signaling gates astrocyte responsiveness to neurotransmitters and control of neuronal activity
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