Elon Musk's brain-chip research company Neuralink is the first company people think of in regards to brain implants. Much like SpaceX, the financial backing of Billionaire Musk has given the venture a large amount of influence and exposure. As such, the brand's pull has significant reach.
Once again, Musk has used this for great results. As competitors like Paradromics finalise their initial funding spree, Musk has followed suit. Compared to Paradromics’ recent funding of $20 million, Neuralink has raised over $200 million.
Who is funding Neuralink?
The latest round of funding for the Tesla CEO's brain implant company resulted in a total of $205 million for the company. Reported by Reuters, the funding was spearheaded by Dubai venture capital company Vy Capital.
Funding was also helped by a healthy injection from Google parent company Alphabet. As part of the Google Ventures program, the company is also funding new Neuralink research. Furthermore, Valor Equity Partners, Craft Ventures and Founders Fund all helped.
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What product are they funding?
Neuralink's first commercial project is known as the N1 Link. In research since 2016, the device is planned to help paralysis victims interface with modern technologies. The technology should also help to combine humans and artificial intelligence, if that's wanted.
According to tweets from Elon Musk, the N1 chip will be implanted flush with the user’s skull. Once there, the brain implant will “charge wirelessly" to help make users feel “totally normal".
Musk says that the product “will enable someone with paralysis to use a smartphone with their mind faster than someone using thumbs.” Previous successful projects have monitored the brain activity of pigs and trained a monkey to play pong.
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