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Global fascination with the exploits of Elon Musk explains the sudden interest in neurotech. This year, his start-up Neuralink announced its first successful human trial. Noland Arbaugh, 29, who is paralysed from the shoulders down, received a Neuralink brain computer interface, or BCI. Within days he was filmed playing Mario Kart with his mind. For now, trials are limited to patients. But Neuralink’s $5bn valuation envisions a future in which everyone can use a BCI.
The idea of using hardware to detect and decode brain activity and transmit it to an external device is not new. The first invasive implant in a human took place in the late 1990s. Dozens of patients have received implants since then.
What has changed in recent years is the level of funding available for start-ups that see BCI use beyond medtech. According to PitchBook, neurotechnology companies raised a record $1.4bn across 115 deals last year. Leading the pack is Neuralink, which has raised close to $700mn to date.
Exits are still relatively rare. PitchBook predicts that Neuralink is more likely to list than be bought. The devices being created are not cleared for commercial use. The idea that they might one day cure depression, eliminate the need for handheld devices or otherwise accelerate general human capabilities remains fanciful.
Procedures are invasive too. Companies such as Blackrock Neurotech, created in 2008, and Neuralink remove a piece of skull and add sensors directly on to the brain to pick up electrical signals. Texas-based Paradromics, founded by one of Neuralink’s founders and funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is making devices that pick up neural signals from the brain via a receiver in the chest. Synchron, which has raised $130mn from investors including another Neuralink founder, adds its sensors to the brain via blood vessels.
The good news is that the brain feels no pain. Still, the nature of the procedures limits the audience for BCIs. Patients with degenerative diseases or paralysis have far more to gain than the average consumer.
To reach a consumer audience, neurotechnology start-ups will need to prove they can dramatically enhance human abilities. Alternatively, they will need to produce wearable devices that can record and even influence brain activity from the scalp, instead of being embedded within the brain.
Even then, there will be concerns about the use of intimate data collected. The investment case for consumer neurotech is decades away.
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