Musk’s Neuralink cash raise deal values company at $9bn

Bengaluru — Elon Musk’s brain implant company, Neuralink, raised $600m in a deal that values the company at $9bn before the new cash, Semafor reported on Tuesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

Neuralink did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The start-up was estimated to be valued at $5bn in 2023, based on privately executed stock trades. The company had previously raised $280m in a funding round led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.

In April, Bloomberg News reported that the company was planning to raise about $500m.

Neuralink is in the process of testing its implant, which is intended to help people with spinal cord injuries. The device has allowed the first patient to play video games, browse the internet, post on social media and move a cursor on his laptop directly with his brain.

Earlier this month, Neuralink received the US Food and Drug Administration’s “breakthrough” tag for its device.

Musk has expressed grand ambitions for the company, saying its chip would allow healthy and disabled people alike to pop into neighbourhood facilities for speedy surgical insertions of devices to treat obesity, autism, depression and schizophrenia. He even sees them being used for web-surfing and telepathy.

Reuters