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Can You Invest in Neuralink?
Elon Musk's Neuralink has captured the public’s attention and imagination with its futuristic vision of connecting the human brain to computers.
A July 2024 report by IDTechEx projects that the overall brain computer interface (BCI) market could reach a market value of over US$1.6 billion by 2045.
"We anticipate that the market for non-invasive solutions will grow before the commercialization of invasive solutions from players such as Neuralink," stated the research firm's Senior Technology Analyst Dr. Tess Skyrme. "However, the long-term opportunity within the assistive technology market is more likely to be captured by the likes of Elon Musk."
As Neuralink continues to make strides, investors are wondering how to get a piece of the action by investing in the neurotechnology venture.
Because it is privately held, Neuralink stock isn't accessible to the average person — but that doesn't mean its impossible to get exposure to this future-looking medical research company. Read on to learn how to participate in the growth of this exciting business.
In this article
What is Neuralink?
Neuralink is a neurotechnology startup that was founded in 2016 by Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Musk and a team of eight scientists and engineers in 2016.
It was first reported on in 2017, and two years later, in June 2019, the company held and streamed its public launch event to showcase the technology it is developing: an innovative brain-computer interface.
Instead of using traditional electrodes, which according to a company whitepaper can be bulky and damaging to brain tissue, Neuralink’s BCI uses “ultra-thin threads” that are implanted into the brain using a robotic device that resembles a sewing machine. Once implanted, the electrodes develop a BCI, stimulating the brain and monitoring activity, and the threads connect to a custom-designed chip that can read data from groups of neurons.
Potential uses of BCI technology include helping paralyzed individuals regain control of their limbs and restoring vision. Musk told his audience during Neuralink's 2019 launch event that this technology could have a wide range of applications in medicine, such as restoring sensory and motor function in people with spinal cord injuries or neurological disorders. Additionally, an early goal of development is translating neuron signals into computer commands, which would allow humans to control devices like computers and smartphones with their brainwaves.
Musk has claimed that BCI could even facilitate direct communication between humans and machines, although some members of the neuroscientific community are skeptical. Other experts have suggested that Neuralink's work is not necessarily novel — as Dr. Jason Shepherd, an associate professor of neurobiology at the University of Utah, told Business Insider in 2020, “All the technology that he showed has been already developed in some way or form. Essentially what they've done is just package it into a nice little form that then sends data wirelessly.”
Other experts in the field have ethical concerns about how Neuralink is conducting its clinical trials and the broader implications of disregarding established standards.
“If you decide to play with fire in a house, you increase the risk threshold not only of yourself but of the whole house,” Marcello Ienca, a professor of ethics of AI and neuroscience at Technical University of Munich, told Forbes. “My fear is that Neuralink's disregard for the ethical aspects of their technology may cause a backfire effect for the entire neurotechnology community.”
How much is Neuralink worth?
Neuralink was reportedly valued at around US$9 billion in May 2025, but as a privately held business, much of its financial information is kept under wraps. That said, US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents containing information about its funding rounds provide some insight.
The earliest came in 2017, when the company raised US$27 million out of a planned US$100 million in a Series A funding round. In April 2019, SEC filings show the company acquired US$39 million out of a planned US$51 million in a Series B funding round. A limited amount of information has been made available to the public, and the identities of the investors have not been publicly disclosed. However, some news outlets have speculated that funding could have come from a combination of venture capitalists, or from Musk himself and the Neuralink team.
In 2021, Neuralink received what was then its largest amount of money to date, raising US$205 million in a funding round led by tech investment firm Vy Capital. Other participants included Google Ventures, the venture capital arm of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL); OpenAI CEO Sam Altman; Fred Ehrsam, co-founder of Paradigm and Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN); and Ken Howery, co-founder of PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:PYPL) and Founders Fund.
In May 2023, as Neuralink faced public backlash over accusations of animal mistreatment, it received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to run the first human trial of its brain implant. Just months later, in August, Neuralink closed a US$280 million funding round led by Founders Fund. The filing was amended in November 2023 to reflect an additional US$43 million, bringing the total to US$323 million.
Most recently, the company announced the closure of a US$650 million Series E funding round in June 2025.
Is Neuralink approved for human trials?
In May 2023, the US Food and Drug Administration granted Neuralink clearance to run the first human trials of its brain implant, and Health Canada approved Neuralink brain-computer implant clinical trials in November 2024.
During the company's summer update meeting in July 2025, it was revealed that a total of nine human clinical trial participants have received the Neuralink implant. A subsequent study was launched in Great Britain in July 2025, and the company said it will soon begin a trial to help restore sight to the blind in the United Arab Emirates.
Neuralink has so far made the most progress with its US clinical trial. The company opened a patient registry in early 2023 that allowed people who had at least one of a qualifying list of conditions to volunteer for upcoming clinical trials.
The first study, dubbed PRIME — Precise Robotically Implanted Brain-Computer Interface — is specifically focused on patients with cervical spinal cord injuries or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It has an estimated primary completion date of January 2026 and is estimated to be fully completed by January 2031.
Musk said in January 2024 that the brain chip being used for testing is named Telepathy. It is about the size of a coin, and each one is equipped with over 1,000 electrodes 20 times finer than human hair that fan out into the cerebral cortex. The first operation was performed on January 29, 2025. Musk shared the results on X, formerly known as Twitter, stating that the patient was “recovering well” and that “initial results show promising neuron spike detection.”
The next update came during a Spaces event on X on February 19, 2024, during which Musk stated that the patient had recovered and was able to move a computer cursor using thought. In mid-May, Neuralink's first patient, Noland Arbaugh, who is quadriplegic, shared his experiences in his first 100 days with the Neuralink brainchip.
According to Arbaugh at the time, despite some setbacks, he believed his trial to be a success. One of the largest benefits was that the Link allowed him to operate his computer and other devices lying down, while he needed assistance for setup and repositioning with prior devices. This gives him more freedom to live on his own time, he explained. Additionally, it offers greater control than other devices he has used.
"The games I can play now are leaps and bounds better than previous ones," Arbaugh said. "I'm beating my friends in games that as a quadriplegic I should not be beating them in."
Reuters reported in May 2024 that Neuralink would enroll another three patients in its clinical trial. The company has since implanted a brain chip into two additional patients, one who became paralyzed following a spinal cord injury from a diving accident and another who lost use of his limbs to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The company issued an update on their progress in February 2025, with all three patients touting positive changes following the procedure.
How to invest in Neuralink?
With Neuralink continuing to move forward, how can investors get a piece of this up-and-coming technology?
As mentioned, the firm has yet to go public, so purchasing Neuralink stock is not an option for many investors. The vast majority of Neuralink’s funding has come from venture capitalists and a handful of billion-dollar companies.
However, there are still ways for investors to potentially profit from Neuralink’s growth before it goes public. For example, investing in publicly traded companies that have invested in Neuralink can provide an indirect stake. Many of the company's investors are venture capital firms or private individuals, but some of these firms, such as Google Ventures, are subsidiaries of publicly traded companies. By investing in Alphabet, individuals can indirectly benefit from its investment in Neuralink, as any profit from the investment could potentially flow back to Alphabet.
This indirect approach can be a viable strategy for individuals who want to gain exposure to Neuralink without waiting for the company to go public. Coinbase is another company that offers indirect exposure to Neuralink’s growth; the enterprise is owned by Ehrsam, whose venture capital fund Paradigm has invested in Neuralink.
Those who qualify as accredited investors could also potentially invest in a Neuralink funding round. According to the SEC, an accredited investor must have a net worth of at least US$1 million, not including the value of their primary residence, or an annual income of at least US$200,000 for individuals and US$300,000 for married couples. There must also be a reasonable expectation of the same level of income in the year of filing.
Individuals can also qualify as accredited investors if they are investment professionals in good standing. In that case, the SEC's guidelines indicate that they need to hold either a general securities representative license, an investment advisor representative license or a private securities offerings representative license.
Entities like banks, insurance companies or investment firms with total assets of at least US$5 million may also qualify as accredited investors. Certain types of entities, such as private business companies and small business investment companies, may be exempt from the standard asset value requirements for accredited investor status.
It’s also worth noting that Neuralink is just one of several companies currently working on developing BCI technology. According to research by IDTechEx, companies working to develop invasive brain-computer interface solutions have amassed nearly US$1.5 billion in funding.
One competitor is Synchron, a company with similar ambitions that has received funding from the likes of Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates. On February 1, 2024, Synchron acquired a minority stake in German manufacturer Acquandas. This acquisition secures exclusive access to Acquandas’ advanced metal layering technology, which is a critical component for Synchron's device, the Synchron Switch.
Synchron launched a patient registry in April 2024 to prepare for an upcoming large-scale brain implant trial required to apply for US Federal Drug Administration (FDA) medical device approval. In July, the company announced that one of the patients implanted with the Synchron BCI was able to use his direct thoughts to control the cursor on the Apple Vision Pro. A year later, Synchron publicly demonstrated the first-ever use of a thought-controlled iPad, using Apple's BCI Human Interface Device (BCI HID) input protocol that allows a person to control the device with just their thoughts.
Earlier this year Synchron announced a partnership blending NVIDIA's (NASDAQ:NVDA) Holoscan platform with its BCI technology. “Synchron’s vision is to scale neurotechnology to empower humans to connect to the world, and the NVIDIA Holoscan platform provides the ideal foundation,” Synchron CEO and Founder Tom Oxley stated.
The company has since revealed that its implantable BCI is now powered by Chiral AI, a proprietary foundation model of cognition that is trained directly on neural data. This allows its system to move from simple intent recognition to more advanced, self-learning cognitive AI.
Precision Neuroscience is another company working in the brain-computer interface field, although it is also private. Founded by one of Neuralink's co-founders, the BCI company is currently testing its Layer 7 Cortical Interface, which is a thin, flexible film that sits on a brain's gray matter instead of being implanted in it, making it less invasive.
Precision Neuroscience recently set a record for the highest number of electrodes used to detect a person's thoughts at 4,096 when they combined four of their interfaces on one brain. The company completed a funding round of US$102 million in December 2024.
In April 2025, Precision Neuroscience received 510(k) clearance from the FDA for its Layer 7 Cortical Interface, authorizing it for commercial use for up to 30 days. This clearance allows the company to use its technology for intraoperative brain mapping and to build a large repository of neural data.
A newer market entrant, Merge Labs, is set to receive funding at a US$850 million valuation from OpenAI. Sam Altman will reportedly be a co-founder, according to a report from The Financial Times.
Although the field is nascent, the potential for BCI to impact various industries such as robotics, medicine and biotech has generated a growing amount of interest and excitement. Additionally, heightened interest in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector has led to more research and exploration in related fields, and has attracted increased investment in fields benefiting from AI advancements, including robotics and medicine.
AI is also being used as a tool to help discover new insights and make moves that might not have been possible without its use. Scientists in California have even developed a brain implant capable of decoding and vocalising inner speech.
Finally, one of the simplest ways to gain exposure to Neuralink would be through an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that invests in companies related to BCI technology. While there isn't an ETF that exclusively focuses on BCIs, there are funds that offer exposure to related themes. One example is the iShares Healthcare Innovation ETF (LSE:HEAL,OTC Pink:BLKIF). This fund consists of companies that are developing new and innovative healthcare technologies.
Two other options are the Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence ETF (NASDAQ:BOTZ), which includes companies that are involved in the development of robotics and AI, and the ARK Innovation ETF (ARCA:ARKK), which focuses on disruptive technologies across multiple industries, including healthcare and robotics.
As with any investment decision, it’s important to perform due diligence on available options, including comparing ETFs, to ensure they align with one's investment goals.
This is an updated version of an article originally published by the Investing News Network in 2024.
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Technology for real-time news updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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22 August
Tech 5: Softbank to Invest US$2 Billion in Intel, Figure Seeks Nasdaq IPO
A broad selloff in heavyweight tech stocks at the start of the week abruptly reversed after US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell delivered a speech that bolstered expectations of a September interest rate cut.
Speaking at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium, Powell took a more dovish tone than investors may have been expecting, noting a slowdown in both worker supply and demand that could lead to employment risks.
He stated that the shifting balance of risks may warrant adjusting the Fed’s policy stance, stressing the need to balance both sides of the central bank's dual mandate when goals are in tension.
This is a change from the Fed's previous stance, which had been more focused on the need to keep rates high to fight inflation. Powell acknowledged the visible, though likely temporary, effects of tariffs, cautioning about the potential for persistent inflation, but signaled that the Fed is now also seriously considering downside risks to employment.
A risk-on rally ensued, impacting various markets: the S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX), Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) and Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) all closed up by more than 1.5 percent.
Bitcoin climbed above US$116,800, the Russell 2000 Index (INDEXRUSSELL:RUT) surged by 3.9 percent and 10 year treasury yields decreased by 0.07 percentage points to 4.26 percent. Traders now have higher expectations for a September rate cut, with probabilities exceeding 83 percent, as per CME Group's (NASDAQ:CME) FedWatch tool.
Here's a look at the other drivers that shaped the tech sector this week.
1. Softbank to invest US$2 billion in Intel
Intel's (NASDAQ:INTC) share price got a boost this week after a series of major announcements, beginning with SoftBank Group’s (TSE:9984) Monday (August 18) announcement that it plans invest US$2 billion in the company.
“Semiconductors are the foundation of every industry. For more than 50 years, Intel has been a trusted leader in innovation," said Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank, in a press release.
"This strategic investment reflects our belief that advanced semiconductor manufacturing and supply will further expand in the United States, with Intel playing a critical role,” he added.
Following that news, sources confirmed last week’s reports that the US government was seeking an equity stake in Intel in exchange for Biden-era Chips Act funding. Then, on Friday (August 22), US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick announced that Intel had agreed to sell an 8.9 percent stake to the federal government, a move that will convert billions of dollars in previously awarded grants into a passive ownership stake.
Intel performance, July 28 to August 18, 2025.
Chart via Google Finance.
These developments have sent Intel’s market value soaring, with its share price increasing over 28 percent from the start of the month. Shares of Intel closed up on Friday at US$24.80.
2. Figure files for Nasdaq IPO
Figure Technology filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq on Monday under the ticker symbol FIGR, joining a growing list of crypto-related companies looking to access public markets following the successful debut of stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL).
Figure leverages blockchain to streamline financial services. The company's filing reveals a strong financial performance, with profit reaching US$29 million in the first half of 2025, compared to a US$13 million loss in the same period last year. Its revenue for the first half of the year was US$191 million.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) and Bank of America Securities are acting as lead underwriters for the offering. The number of shares and price ranges are yet to be confirmed.
3. Google unveils new Pixel and more
Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) made headlines this week with several new developments spanning its business lines.
The week kicked off with the tech giant announcing it has increased its stake in data center operator and Bitcoin miner TeraWulf (NASDAQ:WULF) to roughly 14 percent, worth US$3.2 billion.
The company also revealed a partnership with advanced nuclear startup Kairos Power and the Tennessee Valley Authority to power its data centers in Tennessee and Alabama using a new nuclear reactor.
On Wednesday (August 20), Google unveiled its latest Pixel smartphone, the Pixel 10, and accessories, with upgrades including a health coach powered by artificial intelligence (AI).
The week culminated with reports of a US$10 billion cloud computing agreement with Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) to provide the necessary servers and infrastructure for Meta's expanding AI operations. The news sent Google's share price up by over 3 percent and Meta's up by over 2 percent.
4. NVIDIA tumbles amid China tension and chip sales
NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) experienced a volatile week, with its share price slipping in early trading on Monday following reports of renewed tensions with China. The downturn was triggered by news that Beijing will move to restrict sales of the H20 AI chip, the company’s most advanced product approved for the Chinese market.
China’s internet and telecom regulator, as well as the state planning agency, issued informal guidance to major tech companies, instructing them to halt new orders of the H20 chips, citing security concerns.
According to unnamed officials who spoke to the Financial Times, the decision was also influenced by “insulting” remarks from US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.
In response to the Chinese directive, NVIDIA has reportedly instructed its component suppliers, including Foxconn Technology (TPE:2354), Samsung Electronics (KRX:005930) and Amkor Technology (NASDAQ:AMKR), to suspend production of the H20 chip; the company also said it is working on a new AI chip for China.
Alphabet, NVIDIA, Palo Alto Networks and Meta Platforms performance, August 19 to 22, 2025.
Chart via Google Finance.
NVIDIA saw the greatest losses midweek, falling over 4 percent between Tuesday and Thursday. The company recovered some of its losses during Friday’s rally, but finished the week over one percent lower.
5. Palo Alto Networks rises on strong forecast
Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) surged over 7 percent on Tuesday after the cybersecurity company forecast that revenue and profit for its 2026 financial year will come in above estimates.
The company gave a strong performance in its 2025 fiscal year, with total revenue increasing 15 percent year-on-year to US$9.2 billion, fueled by an increase in revenue from newer, cloud-based security products. This growth occurred alongside a 24 percent rise in its future contracted business to US$15.8 billion.
The company also surpassed a US$10 billion revenue run rate while maintaining its “Rule-of-50” status — a measure of the balance between growth and profitability — for the fifth consecutive year.
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Technology for real-time news updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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