(News Punch) A US Brain implant startup backed by Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates is testing mind-controlled computing on humans.
Synchron is part of an emerging crop of companies testing technology in the brain-computer interface industry which is designed to help people with paralysis.
Implanted through the blood vessels, the Synchron Switch allows patients to operate technology using only their minds.
At the end of last year, the company announced a $75 million funding round, with participation from the investment firms of Gates and Bezos.
CNBC reports: Founded in 2012, Synchron is part of the burgeoning brain-computer interface, or BCI, industry. A BCI is a system that deciphers brain signals and translates them into commands for external technologies. Perhaps the best-known name in the space is Neuralink, thanks to the high profile of founder Elon Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter.
But Musk isn’t the only tech billionaire wagering on the eventual transition of BCI from radical science experiment to flourishing medical business. In December, Synchron announced a $75 million financing round that included funding from the investment firms of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
In August 2020, the Food and Drug Administration granted Synchron the Breakthrough Device designation, which is for medical devices that have the potential to provide improved treatment for debilitating or life-threatening conditions. The following year, Synchron became the first company to receive an Investigational Device Exemption from the FDA to conduct trials of a permanently implantable BCI in human patients.
