Overview
- Merge Labs emerged from stealth on January 15 with a seed round reported at roughly $250–252 million that includes OpenAI, Bain Capital, and Valve co-founder Gabe Newell, with OpenAI’s individual check undisclosed.
- OpenAI says it will collaborate with Merge on scientific foundation models and AI operating systems intended to interpret intent and operate reliably on limited, noisy brain signals.
- Merge describes an approach that avoids brain implants by connecting with neurons using molecules and transmitting and receiving information with deep-reaching ultrasound.
- The startup lists co-founders Sam Altman, Alex Blania, Sandro Herbig, Tyson Aflalo, Sumner Norman, and Mikhail Shapiro, and it positions itself as a research lab focused on high-bandwidth human–AI interfaces.
- Merge is a spinoff of the nonprofit Forest Neurotech, which will continue collaborating with the company, as Forest pursues an early UK safety study of a miniaturized ultrasound device, and coverage notes governance questions given OpenAI’s investment in a venture co-founded by its CEO.