NeuralinkThe company founded by Elon Musk that developed implantable chips that can read brain waves has raised an additional $43 million in venture capital, according to a new report. Deposit With the SEC.
A filing published this week shows the company increased its previous tranche, led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, from $280 million to $323 million in early August. Thirty-two investors participated, according to the filing.
Neuralink did not disclose its valuation recently. But in June, Reuters mentioned The company’s value reached about $5 billion after private equity trading.
Neuralink, founded in 2016, has created a sewing machine-like device capable of implanting very thin threads inside the brain. The leads are attached to a specially designed chip that contains electrodes that can read information from groups of neurons.
Brain signal-reading implants are decades-old technology. But Neuralink’s apparent innovation lies in making the implants wireless and increasing the number of electrodes implanted.
In May, Neuralink received FDA approval for human clinical trials after previously being denied, and opened its first human trial for recruitment under the FDA’s Research Device Exemption.
But Neuralink is under increasing scrutiny for what critics claim is a toxic workplace culture — and unethical research practices.
In January 2022 condition In Fortune magazine, anonymous former employees described a “culture of blame and fear” — one in which Musk often undermined management by encouraging junior employees to “send problems and complaints directly to him via email.” As of August 2020, only three of the eight founding scientists remained at the company, as Stat News reported. piece It is described as “an internal struggle in which fast timescales collided…with the slow, ever-increasing pace of science.”
In 2022, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) alleged that Neuralink and the University of California, Davis, which was once its research partner, mistreated several monkeys involved in testing Neuralink devices, subjecting them to psychological distress and chronic inflammation due to the surgical procedures. Reports from both Reuters And Wired The proposed tests were rushed due to Musk’s demand for quick results, which led to complications when the electrodes were fitted – including partial paralysis and brain swelling.
For nearly a year, Neuralink has been under federal investigation by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for animal rights violations. The USDA ultimately concluded that there was “no evidence” of animal rights violations in the startup’s experiments other than an earlier self-reported incident from 2019 — but PCRM disputed the investigation’s findings.
In November 2023, US lawmakers asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate Neuralink for omitting details about the deaths of at least a dozen animals that had its implants surgically installed.