Elon Musk’s Neuralink has quietly raised $43 million

Neuralink was granted FDA approval for human clinical trials in May

According to a filing with the SEC, Neuralink, the startup founded by Elon Musk that is creating implantable devices that can read brain waves, has raised an extra $43 million in venture capital. According to the document released this week, the business raised its last tranche in early August from $280 million to $323 million, with Peter Thiel's Founders Fund leading the charge. Thirty-two investors took part, the filing states. Neuralink hasn’t revealed its valuation. However, after secretly completed stock trades, Reuters reported in June that the company's valuation was approximately $5 billion. Neuralink, a company founded in 2016, has developed a device resembling a sewing machine that can insert incredibly fine threads inside the brain. The threads fasten to a specially made chip with electrodes that can read data from clusters of neurons.

Implants that read brain signals have been around for decades. However, Neuralink's purported innovation resides in the fact that more electrodes are implanted and that the devices are wireless. After having its application rejected earlier, Neuralink was granted FDA approval for human clinical trials in May and began recruiting for its initial trials using an experimental device exemption. However, Neuralink is coming under more and more fire for what detractors claim to be unethical research procedures and a hostile workplace culture. U.S. lawmakers requested that the SEC look into Neuralink in November 2023 because the company had concealed information regarding the deaths of at least dozen animals after receiving its implants through surgery.