April 2022 issue
April 30, 2022 | The market for brain-computer interface systems has expanded considerably in recent months as new vendors have entered the space and existing players have moved to solidify their positions. Investor interest remains strong despite—or perhaps because of—tech entrepreneurs’ investment in companies like Blackrock Neurotech, Kernel, and Neuralink [NBR Jul21 p1].
One new entrant in the BCI space is a Portola Valley, CA company called Inner Cosmos, which is developing a minimally invasive BCI implanted subcutaneously on the surface of the skull. The company recently raised $10 million from investors that included Lool Ventures, Loup Ventures, and KittyHawk Ventures. The company will be targeting depression as its first indication.
Inner Cosmos CEO Meron Gribetz has assembled an impressive team, including cofounders Ed Boyden from MIT, who heads the advisory board, CSO Darin Dougherty from Harvard Medical School and Mass General, and CMO Eric Leudhardt, a neurosurgeon at Washington University School of Medicine. CTO Jesse Wheeler was previously with Draper Labs.
In another development, the internet firm Snap acquired NextMind, a Paris-based noninvasive BCI developer. NextMind joined Snap to help drive long-term augmented reality research efforts within Snap Lab. The team will continue to operate out of Paris.
In yet another transaction, Blackrock Neurotech, the longest running implanted BCI firm, announced the acquisition of spatial computing software firm MindX, integrating that firm’s augmented reality and artificial intelligence technology with Blackrock’s BCI hardware. MindX was created in 2017 by serial health-tech entrepreneur Julia Brown and Catalio Capital Management, a multi-strategy life sciences investment firm.
The acquisition bolsters Blackrock’s existing software portfolio and positions the company to deliver full-stack, integrated BCI products with innovative capabilities. The move comes on the heels of Blackrock’s exclusive neural decoder licensing deals with Stanford University and Columbia University.
MindX’s proprietary spatial neurocomputing technology is used to recognize and interpret the movement of objects in physical space, and in combination with decoded biological data, could unlock more meaningful levels of interaction between patients, their physical environments, and the digital world. This integrated BCI platform aims to offer patients hope for increased quality of life, independence, and autonomy and deliver on the long-term promise of BCI.
Blackrock, which anticipates releasing its commercial BCI platform, MoveAgain, in early 2023, views the acquisition as a key step in the development of its patient-facing software, the expansion of its technology platform, and the seeding of a core capability in AI. While the initial aim is to help paralyzed patients interact with devices like keyboards, other applications such as restoring vision through human optical prostheses are also being explored. The acquisition is further expected to accelerate existing studies in speech restoration for aphasia patients.
Though Elon Musk’s Neuralink startup has garnered much of the media attention in the BCI space, upstart Synchron Inc. is also gaining attention. Bloomberg recently reported that Neuralink cofounder and former president Max Hodak invested in Synchron and joined its advisory board.
Synchron released results of a trial of its device with four ALS patients at the recent American Academy of Neurology meeting. Researchers monitored participants for one year and found the device was safe. There were no serious adverse events that led to disability or death. The device also stayed in place for all four people and the blood vessel in which the device was implanted remained open. Researchers also examined whether participants could use the brain-computer interface to perform routine digital tasks. All participants learned how to use the device with eye tracking to use a computer.
