Elon Musk’s Neuralink Raises £650m as Clinical Trials Commence

Elon Musk’s Neuralink announced on Monday that it had secured £650m in its latest funding round, coinciding with the commencement of clinical trials for its brain implant device.

“This funding will enable us to bring our technology to more people, restoring independence for those with unmet medical needs and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with brain interfaces,” Neuralink said.

Two countries are participating in trials for the device, which consists of a chip that receives brain signals that can be transmitted to PCs or mobile phones.

Elon Musk’s Neuralink claims that five patients with significant paralysis can now control both digital and physical devices with their thoughts using the device.

The company received the US Food and Drug Administration’s “breakthrough” designation for its speech restoration device last month, following a similar designation for its vision-restoring device the previous year.

According to its website, the FDA’s breakthrough devices programme aims to provide patients and healthcare providers timely access to medical devices by expediting development, assessment, and review.

On Wednesday, Musk stated he would no longer serve as advisor to US President Trump and would instead focus on running Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, Neuralink, and his social media platform X.

Media sources report that Morgan Stanley hopes to secure a £5bn debt package for xAI and a share sale to help xAI achieve a £113bn valuation.

ARK Invest, DFJ Growth, Founders Fund, G42, Human Capital, Lightspeed, QIA, Sequoia Capital, Thrive Capital, Valour Equity Partners, and Vy Capital participated in Neuralink’s recent funding round, the company confirmed.

Last month, Semafor reported on a fundraising round for the startup that raised £600m, which increased the startup’s valuation to £9bn.