Company profileCore BCI
Neuralink
A fully implanted, wireless intracortical BCI placed by a surgical robot.
- Location
- Fremont, United States
- Founded
- 2016
- Class
- Core BCI
- Website
- neuralink.com
- Funding stage
- Series E
- Sources last checked
- 6 Oct 2026
What they are building
Builds the N1 Implant, a cranially mounted device with flexible electrode threads inserted into cortex by the R1 robot.
- Interface category
- Intracortical arrays
- Signal
- Action potentials and local field potentials
- Invasiveness
- Invasive
- Recording / stimulation
- Recording
- Device
- N1 Implant — Skull-mounted implant with flexible polymer threads, inserted by the R1 surgical robot
- Channels
- 1,024 electrodes
- Regulatory status
- Investigational; in early feasibility studies
- Main use cases
- Control, Communicate
Where they are clinically
Feasibility
Small early studies that test safety and whether the device can do what it is meant to.
Access today
Clinical study
Accessible only by enrolling in a registered clinical study.
- Shown in people
- Home use of a fully implanted, wireless intracortical device for cursor control. The rates reported, up to 11.32 bits per second, are the company's own figures; no clinical result from the PRIME studies is peer reviewed.
- Still an aim
- Restoring communication for people who cannot speak. The VOICE study, registered for six participants, began in October 2025 and has not reported.
- What stands in the way
- Evidence others can check: peer-reviewed safety and performance data, and a registered pivotal trial.
On record here: 5 registered studies · 44 participants planned or enrolled · 0 peer-reviewed papers
This technology remains experimental and is not an established treatment. Access is limited to registered clinical studies.
Why this company matters
Neuralink is running the broadest registered study programme of any implanted-BCI company, across four countries, and its home-use data volume is now large enough to pretrain decoders. Almost all of its performance results are company-reported; peer-reviewed clinical data would let the field weigh them against academic benchmarks.
Key milestones
1 Oct 2026
Company reports a cursor-control rate of 11.32 bits per second after pretraining decoders on more than 50,000 hours of participant data.
3 Oct 2025
VOICE early feasibility study for communication restoration begins.
Jun 2025
Series E of $650M reported.
20 Nov 2024
CAN-PRIME study begins in Canada; further PRIME studies follow in the UAE and UK during 2025.
9 Jan 2024
PRIME early feasibility study begins in the United States.
8 Aug 2023
Series D of $280M led by Founders Fund, announced by the company.
31 Oct 2019
White paper describes flexible electrode threads and a robotic inserter.
Clinical programmes
- VOICE
Extends the N1 Implant to speech and communication restoration.
FeasibilityRecruiting
6 estimatedNCT07224256
- GB-PRIME
UK arm of the PRIME programme.
FeasibilityRecruiting
7 estimatedNCT07127172
- UAE-PRIME
United Arab Emirates arm of the PRIME programme.
FeasibilityRecruiting
10 estimatedNCT06992596
- CAN-PRIME
Canadian arm of the PRIME programme.
FeasibilityRecruiting
6 estimatedNCT06700304
- PRIME
Early feasibility study of the N1 Implant and R1 Robot for control of external devices.
FeasibilityRecruiting
15 estimatedNCT06429735
Research
- 2019An Integrated Brain-Machine Interface Platform With Thousands of Channels
Musk E et al. · Journal of Medical Internet Research
Funding history
- Jun 2025$650MSeries EAmount confirmed in reporting; investor list recorded from the company announcement and awaiting a re-check.
- 8 Aug 2023$280MSeries D · led by Founders Fund
Investors namedARK Invest · Founders Fund · Sequoia Capital · Thrive Capital · Qatar Investment Authority · Lightspeed Venture Partners
Rounds in the Briefing’s sample only; not a complete funding history.
Leadership
Elon Musk
Co-founder
As publicly stated by the organisation. Not a complete list.
IP and patents
Filings spread across 9 of the 11 layers, most often interface and electrodes (17 of 31 families) and implant electronics (10).
- 31
- patent families identified and counted as BCI
- 2018
- earliest first filing among them
- 21
- first filed since 2021; the latest years are incomplete
- 24 of 31
- include a granted member, of those whose family record was read
Across the stack: families by layer
Themes, by number of families: electrodes and arrays (17), surgical planning and procedure (7), chips and on-implant computing (7), packaging and hermeticity (7), insertion tools and robots (6), stimulation (6). A family can carry several.
Published in: United States (30), Japan (7), South Korea (7), Australia (4), Canada (4), counted over the 31 families whose full record was read.
Representative families
- Capacitive shield for charger artifact reduction for implantsfirst filed 2021 · Electrodes and arrays, Packaging and hermeticity, Wireless powerGranted · US
- Optical coherence tomography for robotic brain surgeryfirst filed 2019 · Insertion tools and robots, Surgical planning and procedure, Electrodes and arraysGranted · JP, US
- Real-time neural spike detectionfirst filed 2019 · Electrodes and arrays, Signal processing, Neural decodingGranted · CA, EP, JP, KR, US
- Sandwich assembly scheme for thin film electrode array and integrated circuits on both sides of printed circuit board (PCB) and method of manufacturefirst filed 2019 · Electrodes and arrays, Signal acquisition, Implant electronicsGranted · EP, US
- Monolithic, biocompatible feedthrough for hermetically sealed electronics and methods of manufacturefirst filed 2019 · Electrodes and arrays, Chips and on-implant computing, Packaging and hermeticityGranted · EP, JP, US
- Electrode fabrication and designfirst filed 2018 · Insertion tools and robots, Electrodes and arrays, StimulationGranted · US
25 more families counted
- Integrated Circuit Amplifier with Gate Tunneling Resistorfirst filed 2024 · Signal acquisition, Chips and on-implant computing, Signal processingApplication
- Vascular Segmentation and Avoidance Using Imagingfirst filed 2023 · Surgical planning and procedureApplication
- Out-of-band pairing for wireless neural implantfirst filed 2023 · Implant electronicsGranted · US
- Die reconstitution and high-density interconnects for embedded chipsfirst filed 2022 · Chips and on-implant computing, Packaging and hermeticity, Connectors and feedthroughsGranted · US
- Dicing and partial dicing release of lithographed devicefirst filed 2022 · Electrodes and arraysGranted · US
- Cannula for grasping and setting lead with needlefirst filed 2022 · Insertion tools and robots, Electrodes and arrays, Motor decodingGranted · US
- Neural signal compression for brain-machine interfacefirst filed 2022 · Electrodes and arrays, Data compression, Signal processingGranted · US
- Static and dynamic input multiplexing for high-density neural signal recordingfirst filed 2022 · Signal acquisitionGranted · US
- Brain-machine interface (BMI) with user interface (UI) aware controllerfirst filed 2021 · Neural decoding, BCI softwareGranted · US
- Soak tester apparatus and systemfirst filed 2021 · Electrodes and arrays, Signal acquisition, Packaging and hermeticityGranted · US
- Automatic craniotomy and bonework via milling, force sensing, and impedance sensingfirst filed 2021 · Surgical planning and procedureGranted · US
- Pivoting surgical implant placement toolfirst filed 2021 · Insertion tools and robots, Surgical planning and procedureApplication
- Polychlorotrifluoroethylene (PCTFE) polymer enclosure for an implantable devicefirst filed 2021 · Electrodes and arrays, Implant electronics, Chips and on-implant computingGranted · US
- Polymer enclosure with wire passthrough for implantable devicefirst filed 2021 · Electrodes and arrays, Implant electronics, Packaging and hermeticityApplication
- In vitro neural implant tester with hardware-in-the-loop simulationfirst filed 2021 · Wireless telemetryGranted · US
- Thin-foil self-resonant wireless power coilfirst filed 2021 · Wireless powerGranted · US
- AC-coupled communication encoding for zero DC offsetfirst filed 2021 · Wireless telemetryGranted · US
- Cell-based brain-machine interfacefirst filed 2021 · Neural decodingApplication
- Cell-based brain-machine interfacefirst filed 2021 · Electrodes and arrays, Peripheral interfaces, Neural decodingApplication
- High density neural implant cylindrical packagingfirst filed 2021 · Electrodes and arrays, Implant electronics, Packaging and hermeticityGranted · US
- Brain implant with subcutaneous wireless relay and external wearable communication and power devicefirst filed 2019 · StimulationApplication
- Laser drilling of pia materfirst filed 2019 · Surgical planning and procedureGranted · US
- Computer vision techniquesfirst filed 2018 · Insertion tools and robots, Surgical planning and procedure, Electrodes and arraysGranted · EP, JP, US
- Device implantation using a cartridgefirst filed 2018 · Insertion tools and robots, Surgical planning and procedure, Electrodes and arraysGranted · CA, JP, US
- Network-on-chip for neurological datafirst filed 2018 · Electrodes and arrays, Signal acquisition, Chips and on-implant computingGranted · US
Families found for Neuralink in the EPO’s worldwide database, grouped so that one invention counts once. A filing shows what a company sought to protect. It does not show that the technology was built, is in a product, or works in people, and themes are read from titles, abstracts and classes, not from the claims. How to read this
Competitive context
IntracorticalFeasibility
Paradromics
A high-data-rate intracortical BCI aimed first at restoring speech.
IntracorticalFeasibility
Blackrock Neurotech
Maker of the electrode arrays behind most human intracortical BCI research.
ECoGApproved / cleared
Precision Neuroscience
A thin-film cortical surface array that slides under the skull through a narrow slit.
EndovascularFeasibility
Synchron
A BCI delivered through the blood vessels, without open brain surgery.
Latest BCI Briefing coverage
Technology · 1 Oct 2026
Neuralink says pooled participant data pushed cursor control to 11.32 bits per secondDossier Nº 01
The State of Speech BCIs
Sources
- 01
Neuralink Sets New BCI Record After Training on 50,000 Hours of Brain Data (opens in a new tab)
Independent reportingTesla North2 Oct 2026Checked against source 3 Oct 2026
Secondary report of a Neuralink blog post dated 1 October 2026.
- 02
Neuralink — Updates (opens in a new tab)
Company reportedNeuralink1 Oct 2026Source identified, not opened
Primary company post could not be retrieved automatically; figures are taken from secondary reporting of it.
- 03
Musk's Neuralink raises $280M in funding led by Thiel's Founders Fund (opens in a new tab)
Independent reportingTechNode Global8 Aug 2023Checked against source 6 Oct 2026
Reports the company's own announcement of the round.
- 04
Musk E et al. J Med Internet Res 2019;21(10):e16194 (opens in a new tab)
Company reportedJournal of Medical Internet Research31 Oct 2019Checked against source 3 Oct 2026
DOI 10.2196/16194
- 05
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06429735 (opens in a new tab)
Clinical registryClinicalTrials.gov9 Jan 2026Checked against source 3 Oct 2026
Registry record last updated 2026-01-09.
- 06
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06700304 (opens in a new tab)
Clinical registryClinicalTrials.gov31 May 2025Checked against source 3 Oct 2026
Registry record last updated 2025-05-31.
- 07
BCI Funding Reaches A New Scale In 2026 (opens in a new tab)
Independent reportingNeurofoundersChecked against source 3 Oct 2026
Lists round sizes; does not give lead investors or dates.
- 08
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT07224256 (opens in a new tab)
Clinical registryClinicalTrials.gov4 Nov 2025Checked against source 3 Oct 2026
Registry record last updated 2025-11-04.