After announcing that it had implanted its brain-computer interface in its first U.S. paralysis patient earlier this year, Synchron has raised $75 million to take its mind-reading tech to the next level.
The company’s series C financing, led by ARCH Venture Partners, also drew investments from Bill Gates’ personal investment fund, Gates Frontier, as well as Jeff Bezos’ Bezos Expeditions.
They were joined by new backers Reliance Digital Health Limited, Greenoaks, Alumni Ventures, Moore Strategic Ventures, and Project X, alongside Synchron’s returning investors in Khosla Ventures, NeuroTechnology Investors, METIS, Forepont Capital Partners, ID8 Investments, Shanda Group, and the University of Melbourne.
Sci-fi no more: Synchron implants mind-reading device in first US patient in paralysis trial
Synchron raised $40 million last year toward its goal of connecting tiny electrodes to the brain by threading them through the body’s blood vessels, with no skull drilling required. Dubbed the Stentrode approach, the company hopes the implants can one day restore communication among paralyzed patients, and even help them text, email, or shop online.
“The problem of paralysis is much larger than people realize,” Synchron founder and CEO Tom Oxley said in a release. “100 million people worldwide have upper limb impairment.”
more at fiercebiotech.com
