Musk has made big claims since founding Neuralink in 2016, pitching its technology as both a treatment of conditions such as blindness, and a way to augment humans to compete against artificial intelligence. To start testing if those claims hold up in the clinic, Neuralink needs to address regulatory concerns.
The FDA reportedly rejected Neuralink’s first application to test the device in humans over concerns that its wires may move in the brain and its lithium battery may fail. In May, Neuralink revealed it had secured FDA clearance to run a first-in-human clinical trial but was yet to open recruitment. The series D round gives Neuralink money to take its device into the clinic.
