Neurotech Notables #54: May 1-15, 2026
IPO + Neuralink's raise + Tim Ferriss's Investment
Happy Monday Readers ☀️
I’m still fizzing from last week’s event! Thanks to our sponsors, attendees, supporters. Full recap coming soon, along with the next meetup….stay tuned! Here’s your roundup of major neurotech industry headlines from the first half of May:
$100m in fresh capital, not including Mobia’s $150m IPO and Neuralink’s unknown OIA funding, was invested in mental health or implanted bladder neuromodulation. Tim Ferris’s vocal support into Ampa’s round is worth more than his money. New grant awards in NeuroAI, organoids, and sleep, as well as new government and philanthropic funding opportunities.
New products and partnerships announced from Prophetic, Greymatter, Cadwell, Neurocatch, along with newly published studies from SetPoint, Cortec, MyndSpan, and executive appointments at startups across a range of indications and modalities.
Galvani Bioelectronics’ shutdown adds a high profile headstone to the commercial neurotech graveyard. Makary’s ouster at the FDA leaves a cloud over the agency, again. The “US-China” BCI dynamic continues gaining media coverage. What do you make of these updates?
When “research” and “society” are venning, it’s a good sign: New studies and commentary on sleep’s impact on middle-age & late life aging clocks, psilocybin, ADHD. Plus: Bioelectronic contact lens, speech studies, and more.
Other updates from Neurotech Futures before diving in:
We sponsored our first webinar in partnership with Neurofounders, covering neuron-based biocomputing’s early commercial phase. Scroll down to catch the full conversation with Ewelina Kurtys of FinalSpark and Brett Kagan from Cortical Labs in Neurotech.TV below👇
The latest edition of Signals covered last month’s news from Motif, Mint, Epia, Axoft, Neurable, Noctrix, Bioness and Neuraxis. As a reminder, you can unlock free access by sharing this with your network!
Do you have a regulatory perspective, analysis, or opinion to share with our global audience of neurotech commercial leaders? On the Reg is our latest series - check it out and let me know if you would like to contribute.
👋🏽 Hi, I’m Naveen. I believe brain health is human health. You are one of the 4,713 readers of my biweekly reports on emerging neurotech markets.
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PL Neuro: Leadership, Infrastructure, and Investability: Neurotech’s Rising Tide - Read More
Resonant Link Medical: MedTech funding is moving, but still playing catch-up, says Campbell Murray, managing partner of Double Point and architect of Synchron’s $200m series D. Hear why on the latest episode of Powering the Future Within.
NANS: NANS Publishes New Curriculum for Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) Training - Read more
TTP: From early concept to clinical readiness, neurotechnology development is full of critical decisions. TTP helps you get to first-in-human faster by resolving complexity early. Find out more
Datwyler: Wearable devices must provide value for the user while meeting high comfort expectations. SoftPulse® dry electrodes achieve best performance while maximizing comfort thanks to optimized formulation and scalable customized production process. Learn more or contact us directly.
BrainMind: Stay tuned for output from Asilomar! Follow BrainMind’s LinkedIn page to stay on top of all updates.
Funding
Mobia Medical Announces $150m Initial Public Offering (Mobia)
Oman Investment Authority backs Elon Musk’s Neuralink in push into neurotechnology and BCI systems (Fast Company Middle East)
BlueWind Medical Secures $47.8 Million Financing to Accelerate Commercialization of Revi® System (PR Newswire)
SonoMind announces a €20M Series A to accelerate the development of our new non-invasive approach to treating treatment-resistant depression (Linkedin)
Ampa Accelerates Rollout of Portable Neuromodulation Platform for Depression with Oversubscribed Financing (PR Newswire)
This was ~a $17m round. What questions do you have about Ampa’s rise and evolving trajectory for fast-acting mental health?
EBT Medical and NinaMED Announce $13.75M Financing to Advance Licensed NiNA System® for Overactive Bladder (PR Newswire)
Nexstim Plc Announces EUR 5 Million Investment from Eiffel and from Brainlab and Conversion of Options by Certain Option Holders (Nexstim)
Neurosoft Bioelectronics wins grant from Swiss AI Initiative to access Alps, the supercomputer operated by CSCS supercomputing centre (Linkedin)
Nuream wins NC IDEA grant for sleep AI ( NCIDEA)
Announcing the Winners of the NIH Replication Prize: Shaping the Future of Rigorous Science (NIH)
Alysson Muotri from UC San Diego will recieve support for his idea, “Making human brain organoids more reproducible and consistent.” Check out PsyMed’s latest podcast to learn more about Muotri’s work
ARPA-H SBIR/STTR Draft Solicitation has officially launched (Linkedin)
The Wellcome Prize for Mental Health Science with Nature launches $1m prize for new interventions for anxiety, depression and psychosis (Nature)
Commercial
Galvani Bioelectronics Prepares for Orderly Shutdown (Linkedin | Neurotech Reports)
Prophetic announces launch of two products to “enhance how humans dream:” Dual ($449, Q4 2026) and Phase ($1299, Q3 2027) (Prophetic X)
GrayMatters Health Launches Prism™ Imagine, “a generative AI-powered tool for interventional psychiatric clinics to enhance patient engagement.” (PR Newswire)
NeuroCatch Inc. Announces Strategic Partnership with The Geneva Foundation to Advance Cognitive Health Research for Military Personnel (The Geneva Foundation)
Cadwell Launches Cadwell Guardian IONM System in the United States (PR Newswire)
MMI’s Symani Surgical System Treats First Alzheimer’s Patient in Groundbreaking REMIND Study (MMI)
Who knows about microrobot startups? Who’s out there besides MMI and Robeauté?
Neurotechnology leader Nicholas Opie joins Control Bionics board (Biotech Dispatch)
NeuWire Medical Appoints Ramin Mousavi as Executive Chairman Following Stroke Journal Publication (BusinessWire)
Spark Biomedical Appoints Anja Krammer as Chief Executive Officer to Accelerate Clinical and Commercial Growth (Business Insider)
Professor Jianfeng Feng has joined Gestala’s Scientific Advisory Board (Linkedin)
Stimvia Expands Scientific Advisory Board and Commercial Leadership to Advance Global Market Scale-Up of URIS® Neuromodulation Therapy” (PR Newswire)
Wyss Geneva is thrilled to welcome Wolf-Julian Neumann to the Leadership Team as Head of AI Innovation and Therapeutic Neurotechnology (Linkedin)
Two Medtech Industry Leaders Selected to Serve on NIH HEAL Initiative® Multi-Disciplinary Working Group (Globe Newswire)
Inspire Medical slashes 2026 guidance amid reimbursement uncertainty (Mass Device)
Regulatory
Epineuron Receives FDA 510(k) Clearance for Evala® Nerve Stimulator (BusinessWire)
PlatoCare: first wireless tDCS EU MDR approved depression treatment (Linkedin)
Makary’s time atop FDA over, Diamantas named acting commissioner (Politico)
American Brain Coalition Launches New Community Engagement Platform to Strengthen Collaboration Across Brain Health Field (ABC)
📌Community Board
🆕Pin your news - Highlight key deals, events, roles, or announcements!
Corey Keller on the PhD wall in Neurotech (Linkedin)
The Brain-Computer Interface Priority Setting Partnership: Shaping the Future of Brain-Computer Interface Research - Survey
Dana Foundation accepting LOI’s for pilot projects in Neuroscience and Society (Linkedin)
Industry
Towards Solving Brain Aging: The most important problem in medicine, and the case for acting now (Amaranth Foundation)
System changes to empower primary care in Alzheimer’s disease detection and care (Alz Journal)
Geminii to Present New Lung Cancer Data on Its Bioelectronic Therapy at AACR 2026 (PR Newswire)
Why Brain Implants Are More Than a Sci-Fi Fantasy (Bloomberg)
Raymond James deepens Baycrest Foundation relationship to help Canadians protect brain health, wealth and family legacy (Yahoo Finance)
Mind Over Matter: How Neuroscience is Redesigning the World Around Us (Milken Institute)
DiMe’s Navigator: Why Teams Still Stall On Digital Endpoints (Clinical Tech Leader)
Brain&AI team announces a new release with NeuralBench (Linkedin)
Release of BrainFlow adds support for Muse Athena devices (Linkedin)
100,000 Clients Later, Cereset Says It Can Reset Your Brain Without Medication (Morningstar)
Sharma Lab Deploys Open-LIFU for Multidisciplinary Neurological Research at NC Sate, UNC (ITN)
SetPoint Medical Announces Publication of Cost-Effectiveness Study Confirming Neuroimmune Modulation Can Reduce Total Cost of Care and Improve Quality of Life for Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (SetPoint Medical)
Openwater announces new software upgrade to Open-Motion (Linkedin | Openwater)
MYndspan Scientists Publish Study Showing MEG Can Classify Parkinson’s Disease from a Short, Non-Invasive Brain Scan (Fitt Insider)
Christian Angermayer’s Enhanced Games files to go public via SPAC (PR Newswire)
Cortec: Neuromodulation via Subdural Cortical Stimulation Improves Hand Function in Chronic Stroke using a first-in-human fully-implantable recording and stimulation system - Abstract (INS 2026)
The Meteoric Rise—And Problematic Future—Of Wearable Sleep Tech (Forbes)
Renaissance Philanthropy Annual Report (Renaissance Philanthropy)
A big question for brain-computer interface tech: How big is the market? (Pitchbook)
I had a back and forth with a Fund-of-Fund investor about this. I pooh-pooh’d it, saying “it felt stale, like it’s from 5 years ago”. He said “Having a large well respected research firm like Pitchbook is a good signal to legitimize BCIs outside of people that are familiar with BCIs.” What do you think?
Mental Health Research Funding: A Decade of Growth, Inequity, and What Comes Next (IAMHRF)
Neurotech.TV
Amy Kruse Talks Venture Investing in Neurotech (Business of Neurotech)
Announcing the Inaugural Neuroarts Global Summit (Intl Mind + Arts Lab)
Sana Health Advances Toward Global Scale in Pain and PTSD Care (Startup Health)
Ben Rapoport - Treating Paralysis and Digitizing Neural Data (Youtube)
The Doctor Building Real-Life Cyborgs (Youtube)
The Biology of Brain-Machine Interface Failure (Youtube)
Precision Neuroscience CEO on Medtronic Partnership, What’s Next (Bloomberg)
What does it take to engineer a smaller, lighter, and more ergonomic PRIMA? Watch Episode 1: Our team tackles the next generation PRIMA Glasses. (Science Corp)
Surviving the workplace with Min-Hsuan Tu (Buffalo)
All Videos from the EU Brain Economy Summit (LinkedIn)
Society
Here’s What Psychiatrists Mean When They Say You Have A.D.H.D. (NYTimes)
The Race for Human Intelligence (Linkedin)
How can healthcare innovation ease the impact of workforce shortages? (Linkedin)
Neurotechnology: How Geneva is trying to hold its own against Silicon Valley (Heidi News)
China’s recent developments and what they mean for the U.S. (Paradromics)
Going home, young sci-tech returnees plug into China’s innovation drive (English News)
Convicted former Harvard scientist rebuilds brain computer lab in China (Yahoo News)
Recap: The Rhythmic Forum (Carolina Center for Neurostimulation)
Neuroethical evaluation of neuromodulation for stuttering: Implications for agency, identity, consent, and social meaning (National Library of Medicine)
How Does the Brain Control Itself? (BrainFacts)
Silicon Valley Wants to Put a Chip in Your Brain (Politico)
Why expertise won’t protect you from AI’s influence (The Transmitter)
AI and the danger of cognitive surrender (The Economist)
Research
Human brain changes after first psilocybin use (Nature)
Psilocybin and CBT for Cocaine Use Disorder: A Conversation with Sara Lappan, PhD (BrainFutures)
An ultrasound-scanning in vivo light source (Nature)
Finally, ADHD Has A published accelerated TMS Trial (The Frontier Psychiatrists)
Comparison of neuropsychological side effects between contemporary radiofrequency ablative neurosurgery for psychiatric disorders and conventional neurosurgical procedures: systematic review and meta-analysis (BMJ Journals)
Speech as an objective measure of psychomotor dysfunction in major depressive disorder: validation from non-speech motor measures (Science Direct)
Contact lens bioelectronic platform for non-invasive depression treatment with machine-learning-based evaluation (Cell Reports)
Many Pipelines, One Dataset: Analytic Flexibility And Its Impact in EEG Research (OSF)
Pulsed focused ultrasound for seizure suppression: Mechanisms, models, and clinical translation (Neurotherapeutics)
Sleep chart of biological ageing clocks in middle and late life (Nature)
That’s a wrap! What did we miss? Let me know for next time.
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