Neurotech Notables #59: July 16-31, 2026

BCI Top 5? FDA Rumblings. New Jobs. South Bay Mixer!

Happy Monday Readers ☀️

Heatwaves, summer camps, and the steady buzz of neurotech carries us into August. With a bustling fall conference season around the corner, you might not know it’s slowdown season based on the industry’s notable headlines from the last two weeks:

• All eyes on Science Corp, whose PRIMA vision implant received commercial clearance in the EU. The company also announced a new engineering leader who joined after 15 years at Butterfly Network. One could argue this officially launches Science into “first place” among commercial BCI. Do you agree? If you asked me for a Top 5 right now, I’d say Science, Neuracle, Precision, Neuralink, and Synchron. I know, these are apples-to-oranges picks; My Magic 8 Ball answers will vary each time.

• Other BCI news include Ability’s first-in-human implant, Precision Neuroscience’s appointment of BCI godfather John Donoghue, Neuralink’s video on Wheelchair control, and Neuvotion’s BCI ecosystem and major publication in Nature in research.

• New commercial offerings from Augmental, BIOTRONIK, and Ozlo. Vox Neuro and Masimo announce 510ks. Mucho FDA news worth digesting, including staffing changes, TEMPO participants, and new user fees. Plus: A new HHS industry pledge for behavioral health, a new bipartisan Epilepsy bill, and a bold but inchoate new report about Science funding.

• Epitel’s series B leads about $50m in new capital, including new raises by Aurenar, previously unreported seed from Voyage, and a smattering of grant awards. If that’s not enough funding news to scratch your itch, check out HSBC’s H12026 roundup (spoiler alert: Neurotech continues to dominate med device categories)

• What else: The Biological Computing Company’s new demo is live. New preprint from Apollo Neuro and published data from Cumulus. Saluda’s new electrodes are first in human. Voice-based disease predictions, re-using MRI scans, impact of Alzheimer’s blood tests on early treatment.

🍸Neurotech South Bay Summer Mixer! 📅

Join us in Palo Alto on August 27th for a night of networking with your industry and research colleagues in BCI, neuromod, and beyond.
Registration is open, details to be added in the coming weeks.

---

👋🏽 Hi, I’m Naveen. I believe brain health is human health. You are one of the 5,252 readers of my biweekly reports on emerging neurotech markets. Operators: Upgrade today to get Signals, Insider, and Perks.
Engage: 🎟️Referral program | 💼 Job Board | 🗓️Event Calendar
Collaborate: Annual Partnership | Post Ads | Advisory Services
📲 Connect here: email | LinkedIn | X | Bluesky | Click ❤️ to amplify!

---

Interested in Becoming an Ecosystem Partner? Inquire today.

• PL Neuro: Funding and Framing Impact in the Neuro Frontier - Read More

• Resonant Link Medical: Want to develop advanced power electronics systems that change people’s lives? Join our team and help us power smaller, smarter, and longer lasting medical devices. Apply now.

• NANS: Two weeks left to submit your abstract for NANS 2027. Share your work in AI, neuroprosthetics, bio interfaces, device design, software and security, and other areas shaping the future of neuromodulation.

• TTP: TTP - Ever wondered why cloud-connected medical devices are so hard to get to market? Explore how to build successful connected medical devices that remain secure, compliant and valuble throughout their operational life. Discover more

• Datwyler: Datwyler Joins STMicroelectronics Partner Program to Accelerate Wearable Design, ensuring native compatibility between SoftPulse® dry electrodes and ST’s advanced vAFE biosensors for seamless biopotential sensing

• BrainMind: Explore the Asilomar for the Brain and Mind workshop series (BrainMind YouTube), covering translational tools from neuroethics to BCI investment diligence.

• BADASS Labs: Announcing Mission Booster, a new procurement services collaboration with Wasteless Bio. Learn more!

---

Funding

• Epitel Secures $26 Million Series B to Expand Remote Wireless EEG Monitoring (Business Wire)

• Aurenar lands $5.7M seed funding round for non-invasive neuromodulation platform (Fierce Healthcare)

• Voyage emerges from stealth with a consumer wearable, funding from Draper Associates, Oxford Seed Fund, Upside Ventures, Olive Tree Capital, Genesis (LinkedIn)

• Time is Brain closed an oversubscribed €3M Pre-Series A, only days after receiving CE/MDR approval for its stroke-monitoring platform BraiN20 (Conecta) (h/t Neurofounders)

• SharperSense awarded Empire State Development grant (ESD) (h/t Neurofounders)

• Digital Brain Project announces that 9 teams have been selected for the first round of $15M funding (Linkedin)

• Neubond secures £1.5 million in seed funding (Linkedin)

• Renaissance Philanthropy awards a research grant to explore why promising neurotechnologies fail to reach the people who need them (Linkedin)

• HSBC 2026 midyear Report (HSBC)

  • Q1’s big rounds to Science and Merge stacked the deck, but the takeaway across all deal stages is that there is more to neuro investments than the jumbo checks.

---

Commercial

• BIOTRONIK Neuro Launches Embrace One® Proactive Intelligence, a Proprietary AI Capability that Identifies Emerging Support Needs in SCS Patients (Biotronik)

• Augmental introduces VOX: a microphone you wear on your skin, made for private dictation (Linkedin)

• Neuvotion Announces Commercialization of Brain-Computer Interface and Brain-Body Interface Technologies – Related Clinical Study Published in Nature Medicine (Business Wire)

• Ozlo introduces Sleepbuds 2 (Linkedin)

• Medtronic completes acquisition of SPR, expanding patient access to minimally invasive, non-opioid treatment of chronic and acute pain (Medtronic)

• The HKIC Presents Stellar Annual Report and Joins Hands with Beyond Ventures to Support World-Class Ophthalmic Healthcare Flagship Projects (PR Newswire)

• Neuros Medical Appoints Thomas Tovello as Chief Financial Officer (PR Newswire)

• Precision Neuroscience™ Appoints John Donoghue, Pioneer of Brain–Computer Interfaces, as Scientific Advisor (Business Insider)

• Science Welcomes Nevada Sanchez as Executive Vice President of Engineering (Science)

• Sirica Center Grand Opening Overview (Siricatx)

---

Regulatory

• Science Corp. Announces European Commercial Launch of PRIMA, the Only Treatment to Restore Functional Central Vision to Patients with Geographic Atrophy Caused by Age-Related Macular Degeneration, a Leading Cause of Blindness (Science | Science | Business Wire)

• VoxNeuro Receives FDA 510(k) Clearance for Cognitive Function Neuroimaging (cfNI) Software - An Objective EEG/ERP Brain Health Assessment (Business Wire)

• Masimo Receives FDA 510(k) Clearance for the Pediatric Patient State Index, the First-and-Only Sedation Score Specifically Designed for the Unique Physiology of the Pediatric Brain (PR Newswire)

• HHS Secretary Kennedy Secures Pledge from Insurers, Medical Societies, and Providers to Advance National Behavioral Health Quality and Best Practices (HHS.gov)

• FDA announces new registration fees for med tech companies under MDUFA (FDA)

• FDA Announces First Participant Selected for TEMPO for Digital Health Devices Pilot (FDA)

• The FDA Is Officially Codifying DOGE-Era Changes (NOTUS)

• Senators Schmitt, Klobuchar Celebrate Committee Passage of Bipartisan Epilepsy Care Bill (Schmitt Senate)

---

📌Community Board

🆕Pin your news - Highlight key deals, events, roles, or announcements!

• Ben Stecher: 5 Years Post DBS Surgery… (Tomorrow Edition)

• The Transmitter is excited to share Neuro Funding Finder, an easy-to-use tool to help you find grants, fellowships and funding opportunities for neuroscience research. Filter results by location, career stage, grant type and national citizenship to streamline your search.

• Registration now open for upcoming workshop hosted by NINDS! From Mechanisms to Medicine: Rethinking the Discovery-to-Care Continuum in Multi-System Disorders will be held at the Neuroscience Center (North Bethesda, MD) on September 23-24, 2026.

• Read and weigh in on Professor Kip Ludgwig’s history lesson on LinkedIn.

• New Jobs! Neuralink, Voyage, Salk Institute, CoMind, Motif, Boston Scientific, SPARK NS, Arch, Nudge, Epia, Medtronic, and Precision

---

Industry

• The Biological Computing Co. (TBC) Releases Proof of Concept for Neurally-Optimized AI Software (PR Newswire)

  • (TBC Playable Demo link) https://www.tbc.co/demo

• Why haven’t organoids solved all of drug discovery? (Owl posting)

• ABILITY Neurotech Announces First-In-Human Testing for Novel Brain-Computer Interface Technology (PR Newswire)

• Saluda Medical Announces First U.S. Surgical Cases Using Newly Approved CAP24™ Paddle Lead (PR Newswire)

• Cumulus Neuroscience Presents Data at AAIC 2026 Annual Meeting Showing a Two-Minute Digital Task Matches or Outperforms Clinical Benchmarks for Alzheimer’s Trial Pre-enrichment (PR Newswire)

• Can Better Programming Unlock Improved Outcomes in Hypoglossal Nerve Stimulation? (Night Shift)

• Sure, it’ll be fine: Whose body counts as a body (Merlin Krý)

• China Clears Brain-Computer Interfaces for Commercial Use: Is it time for a global coalition? (The Debrief)

• Apollo Neuro: Association Between Duration of Transcutaneous Vibratory Stimulation Delivered by the Apollo Neuro Device and Extension of Total Sleep Time (JMIR)

• Predicting disease through voice recordings and AI: experts establish standards for vocal biomarkers (Luxembourg Institute of Health)

• Clinical Approach to Neurocognitive Symptoms: A Practical Framework for Primary Care, General Neurology, and Psychiatry (Practical Neurology)

• MRI With Memory: Reusing a Patient’s Old Scans to Image Faster, More Cheaply (Medium)

• Paradromics: The chip in my hand and the chip in her brain (Nextgov)

• Neurologists Call for Earlier Identification of Multifocal Motor Neuropathy (PR Newswire)

• Researchers complete first-of-its-kind vagus nerve anatomical map (MDO)

• Autonomix Medical Secures New U.S. Patent Strengthening Next-Generation Precision Neuromodulation Platform (Yahoo!)

• The Spinal Implant Giving Paralyzed People New Hope (Core Memory)

• Getting to Diagnosis in Weeks, Not Years (Solving Alzheimers)

---

Neurotech.TV

• Telepathic Wheelchair Control | Neuralink (Youtube)

  • This is a great demo of BCI’s utility, but it raises questions about similar advances with non-invasive headsets, like those from Synaptrix, as well as the ecosystem for BCI-compatible assistive technology.

• How BCIs reveal the speaking brain (The Transmitter)

• We visited Kernel to test its $117,200 brain-scanning headset. (Business Insider)

• Loss of hearing is a problem today’s technology still hasn’t solved (Youtube)

• Now I’m Scared of Cyborgs. Are We Doomed? (NPR)

• Arizona’s First ‘Brain Capital at the Capitol’ Leadership Summit - World Brain Day - July 22, 2026 (Genein Letford)

• Ep 56: Demystifying the Regulatory Landscape with Matt Myers, PhD (Curing With Sound)

• Eric Rosenthal presents at TEDxBoston hosted by WGBH Radio and Television (Linkedin)

• Salk’s Year of Brain Health: Kay Tye on social connection and FOMO (Youtube)

---

Society

• Implantable Neuromodulation Devices in Psychiatry: Human Fidelity and Implementation Challenges (Psychiatry Online)

• Military Health System experts collaborate with NATO partners on brain health guidelines to improve warfighter readiness (dvidshub)

• The Brain Museum Awarded Dana Foundation Grant to Create a Public Home for the Brain (National Brain Museum)

• Neurorights for computational neurosurgeons (Sydney Health Law)

• Trump administration says 15 agencies will get $5bn in ‘AI for science’ effort (The Guardian)

• The VA could help America win the biotechnology race with China (STAT 10)

• How eye-tracking tech in sports is helping athletes, referees and brain health (ESPN)

• Inflammation Chronic Immune System Health (The New York Times)

---

Research

• A neuroprosthesis for restoring hand movement and sensation in a person with complete tetraplegia (Nature)

• The emerging field of cognitive brain–computer interfaces (Cell.com)

• Spinal cord stimulation modulates post-synaptic inhibition to improve arm neuromotor control after chronic stroke (Cell)

• Scaling ultrasonic brain computer interfaces beyond the lab (Nature)

• Autonomic and neural responses to varying transcutaneous cervical electrical stimulation parameters (pmc.ncbi)

• Research Reveals Persistent Racial Disparities in Stroke Treatment and Outcomes (PR Newswire)

• Advancing data protections for implantable brain-computer interfaces (Nature)

• Refinement of a piano improvisation training intervention to reduce cognitive inactivity among older adults with and without mild cognitive impairments (Pubmed)

• Brain Stimulation Safely Restored Sense of Touch for Up to Decade, First and Longest Human Study of Its Kind Shows (UPMC)

• Focused ultrasound to bilateral thalamic nuclei significantly improves human cognitive attention in a frequency- and intensity-dependent manner (Brain Stimulation)

• Road Traffic Noise, Noise Difference Between Residential Facades, and Risk of Parkinson Disease (Jama Network)

• Non-invasive in vivo acoustoelectric neuromodulation and its contribution to ultrasound stimulation (Nature)

• Effects of accelerated DLPFC-rTMS on cognition, EEG activity, and blood biomarkers in Alzheimer’s disease (Scientific Reports)

---

That’s a wrap! What did we miss? Let me know for next time.

Did you know you can unlock free membership by referring your friends and colleagues to Neurotech Futures?