Elon Musk's Neuralink raises more cash ahead of human trials next year

Thousands of people expressed interest in Neuralink’s first human trial. NurPhoto

• Neuralink has raised another $43 million, per an SEC filing, as it faces mounting scrutiny. 
• Billionaire investor Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund led the latest round, TechCrunch reported. 
• Neuralink has now raised more than $320 million, filings show.

Elon Musk’s controversial brain implant company Neuralink has raised more funding as it gears up to start human trials.

Neuralink has just collected a further $43 million, according to an SEC filing last week. The fresh funding brings the amount raised to more than $323 million, SEC filings show.

The latest round was led by billionaire investor Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, TechCrunch reported. A total of 32 investors contributed funds, per the filing.

Neuralink is developing a device that will be implanted in humans to monitor brain activity. The microchip will be placed through a patient’s skull into the brain.

The company gained FDA approval in May to start testing its implant in human trials next year. The first will include 11 people after thousands applied to receive an implant.

The latest funding round comes as Elon Musk faces further criticism over the deaths of monkeys that Neuralink used to test its chips. Before having the implant installed, a dozen monkeys experienced various health issues, and they were eventually euthanized.

An animal-rights group claimed it had records that the monkeys used by Neuralink for research were mistreated. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine says the records showed “extreme suffering.”

The committee also claimed it had veterinary records showing that 12 monkeys euthanized by the company experienced symptoms including infections and brain swelling.

Neuralink has previously been scrutinised by four House of Representatives members. They wrote to SEC chair Gary Gensler calling for the regulator to probe Musk for securities fraud over statements he made about the implant.

Musk said in September that “no monkey has died as a result of Neuralink’s chips.” He added in the X comment responding to a user: “First our early implants, to minimize risk to healthy monkeys, we chose terminal moneys (close to death already).”

The billionaire also once declared that the chip means “the Luke Skywalker solution can become real” when combined with the limbs of Tesla’s robot Optimus and could help save humanity from the threat of AI.

Neuralink didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.