投資者正押注於連接大腦和電腦的設備

Recently The New York Times reported the following:

Investors Are Betting on Devices That Connect the Brain to Computers

By backing Precision Neuroscience, the billionaire Bill Ackman joins Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos in diving into an emerging industry.

The NYT - The DealBook Newsletter - By Lauren Hirsch (Lauren Hirsch is a Times reporter who covers deals and dealmakers in Wall Street and Washington.)

Sept. 24, 2026

Technology executives, venture capitalists and sovereign wealth investors are pouring money into a promising new growth area: the brain.

The influx of capital reflects growing enthusiasm about “brain-computer interface” technology, or B.C.I., which uses sensors to read neural signals and communicate the signals to devices that can produce speech or maneuver robotic limbs.

Perhaps the best-known company in this emerging industry is Neuralink, co-founded by Elon Musk a decade ago. But a handful of other start-ups are drawing enthusiasm — and big checks — from investors.

Among them is Precision Neuroscience, which is announcing on Thursday that it has raised $250 million in a new round of financing that values the company at just over $1 billion.

A key figure in the capital raise is the billionaire investor Bill Ackman. The funding includes $42.5 million from his Pershing Square investment firm and the Ackman Oxman Institute, a brain research center he recently founded in Manhattan with his wife, Neri Oxman. Mr. Ackman was inspired to create the center after his daughter suffered a brain hemorrhage and spent several weeks in a coma.

Precision, founded in 2021 and based in New York, has developed a B.C.I. device that is considered less invasive than the approach used by Neuralink. While Precision’s technology is still nascent, the hope is that it and other B.C.I. technologies will help patients with debilitating neurological illnesses or injuries function or communicate better.

“If you’re paralyzed — you’ve lost the ability for the brain to control the body — this is a way of extracting the neural signals at their source so that you can bypass the injury or the illness, or whatever has caused the paralysis, and use thought alone to control a computer,” Michael Mager, the chief executive of Precision, said in an interview.

B.C.I. technologies are still considered experimental. Some have clearance from the Food and Drug Administration to be made available to patients, usually on a temporary basis, but most B.C.I.s intended for long-term use are available only through clinical trials or other programs.

Precision, which gained F.D.A. clearance in 2025 for implants in place for up to 30 days, will use the latest round of funding to support efforts to secure the agency’s approval for permanent implants, Mr. Mager said. (That is likely to take years, he said.) The company has raised $430 million to date.

Money has flooded into the B.C.I. industry as investors have bet on what consultants at Kearney describe as “promising but high-risk space.” Many of these executives see a link between deepening understanding of the brain and expanding artificial intelligence capabilities.

Neuralink was valued at about $9.6 billion by private investors in June 2025, and is now reportedly accorded a valuation as high as $42 billion in the secondary markets. Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates are investors in Synchron, another competitor. Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, founded a B.C.I. start-up, Merge Labs, last year.

Precision distinguishes itself from Neuralink partly in its approach to implantation: While Neuralink’s method involves installing electrodes below the brain’s surface, Precision’s device is effectively an ultrathin film, containing 1,024 electrodes, that sits on top of the cerebral cortex.

Less invasive approaches like Precision’s are generally considered safer because there is less risk of infection from invasive brain surgery or of scarring, experts say. Still, the potential advantage of Neuralink’s approach is that the electrodes can read signals from individual neurons, so some experts believe they have the potential to be more accurate.

One of Precision’s founders, Dr. Benjamin Rapoport, was also one of the founders of Neuralink.

Mr. Ackman said in an interview that Precision’s less invasive approach was part of what had drawn him to the company. He added that he believed the industry would have multiple successful companies.

“I’m a big believer in Elon Musk,” Mr. Ackman said. (ARK Invest, another investor in the round, is also an investor in Neuralink.)

B.C.I. and brain recovery will be a major focus for the Ackman Oxman Institute. Mr. Ackman announced the creation of the research center in August, buffered by an initial donation of around $400 million worth of Pershing Square stock.

Mr. Ackman said he had spent the last seven months doing a “deep dive” into neuroscience and had been introduced to Dr. Rapoport, a practicing surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital, through a neurosurgeon overseeing his daughter’s care. He expects the Ackman Oxman Institute to focus on initiatives including neuroscience research, rehabilitation and neurosurgery. It will also effectively serve as an accelerator for related start-ups. Precision is its first investment.

Precision says it has temporarily implanted its devices in more than 100 patients. It has active research partnerships with 18 medical systems.

Other investors in the round include Duquesne Family Office, the investment firm of the billionaire Stanley F. Druckenmiller, and Mubadala Capital.

Translation

投資者正押注於連接大腦和電腦的設備

億萬富翁 Bill Ackman 投資 Precision Neuroscience 公司，加入 Elon Musk 和 Jeff Bezos 的行列，進軍新興行業

科技高階主管、創投家和主權財富投資者正將資金投入一個充滿前景的新興成長領域：大腦。

資金的湧入反映了人們對「腦機介面」(BCI)技術的日益熱情。 BCI 利用感測器讀取神經訊號，並將這些訊號傳遞給能夠產生語音或操控機械臂的裝置。

在這個新興產業中，或許最知名的公司是 Elon Musk 十年前共同創立的 Neuralink。但其他一些新初創公司也吸引了投資者的熱情，並獲得了巨額投資。

其中就包括 Precision Neuroscience 公司。該公司週四宣佈，已完成新一輪2.5億美元的融資，公司估值略高於10億美元。

此次融資的關鍵人物是億萬富翁投資者 Bill Ackman。這筆資金包括來自其 Pershing Square 投資公司和 Ackman Oxman Institute 的4,250萬美元。Ackman 與妻子 Neri Oxman 近期在曼哈頓共同創立了這座腦研究中心。Ackman 的女兒曾因腦出血昏迷數週，促使他創建了該中心。

Precision 公司成立於2021年，總部位於紐約。該公司開發了一種腦機介面 (BCI)設備，其侵入性比Neuralink公司使用的方法更小。雖然 Precision 的技術仍處於起步階段，但人們希望它以及其他BCI技術能夠幫助患有嚴重神經系統疾病或損傷的患者改善功能或溝通能力。

Precision 公司首席執行官 Michael Mager 在一次採訪中說道: 「如果你癱瘓了 - 大腦失去了控制身體的能力 - 這種方法可以從源頭提取神經信號，從而繞過損傷、疾病或其他導致癱瘓的原因，僅憑意念就能控制電腦」。

BCI技術目前仍處於實驗階段。一些產品已獲得美國食品藥物管理局（FDA）的批准，可以用於患者，通常是臨時性的，但大多數用於長期使用的BCI產品只能透過臨床試驗或其他項目獲得。

Mager 稱，Precision 公司已於2025年獲得美國食品藥物管理局（FDA）批准，其植入物可留置長達30天。該公司將利用最新一輪融資來支持其永久性植入物獲得FDA批准的工作。 （他表示，這可能需要數年時間。）該公司迄今已籌集了4.3億美元。

大量資金湧入BCI產業，投資人紛紛押注於 Kearney 公司顧問所描述的「前景廣闊但風險極高的領域」。許多高階主管認為，加深對大腦的理解與不斷擴展的人工智能能力之間存在著關聯。

2025年6月，Neuralink 的估值約為96億美元，據報道，如今在二級市場的估值已高達420億美元。Jeff Bezos 和 Bill Gates 是另一家競爭對手 Synchron 的投資者。 OpenAI 執行長 Sam Altman去年創立了BCI初創公司 Merge Labs。

Precision 與 Neuralink 的部分差異在於其植入方式：Neuralink 的方法是將電極植入大腦表面以下，而 Precision 的裝置實際上是一層超薄膜，包含1024個電極，覆蓋在大腦皮質(cerebral cortex) 之上。

專家表示，像 Precision 公司這樣侵入性較小的方法通常被認為更安全，因為這樣可以降低腦部手術感染或留下疤痕的風險。不過，Neuralink 公司方法的潛在優勢在於，其電極可以讀取單一神經元的訊號，因此一些專家認為其精確度可能更高。

Precision 公司的創辦人之一 Benjamin Rapoport 博士也是 Neuralink 公司的創辦人之一。

Ackman 在一次採訪中表示，Precision 公司侵入性較小的方法正是吸引他加入該公司的原因之一。他還補充說，他相信這個行業未來會湧現出多家成功的公司。

Ackman 說: 「我深信 Elon Musk」。 （ARK Invest是本輪融資的另一家投資者，同時也是Neuralink 公司的投資者。）

BCI和腦功能恢復將是 Ackman Oxman 研究所的重點研究方向。Ackman 於8月宣佈成立該研究中心，並獲得了價值約4億美元的 Pershing Square 股票作為啟動資金。

Ackman 表示，過去七個月他一直在深入研究神經科學，並透過一位負責他女兒治療的神經外科醫生認識了西奈山醫院的執業外科醫生 Dr. Rapoport。他預計 Ackman Oxman 研究所將專注於神經科學研究、復健和神經外科等領域。該研究所也將有效地加快推動相關初創公司。 Precision是該研究所的首個投資。

Precision 表示，其設備已在100多名患者體內進行了暫時植入。該公司與18家醫療機構建立了積極的研究合作關係。

本輪融資的其他投資者包括 Duquesne Family Office、億萬富翁 Stanley F. Druckenmiller 的投資公司以及 Mubadala Capital。

So, investors are pouring money into studying the brain. There are growing enthusiasm about “brain-computer interface” technology which uses sensors to read neural signals and communicate the signals to devices that can produce speech or maneuver robotic limbs. Perhaps the best-known company in this emerging industry is Neuralink. Among the new start-ups is Precision Neuroscience. Precision distinguishes itself from Neuralink partly in its approach to implantation. Precision’s device is effectively an ultrathin film, containing 1,024 electrodes, that sits on top of the cerebral cortex. It is less invasive and is generally considered safer. It is interesting to know who will prevail in the competition between Neuralink and Precision Neuroscience eventually.