Overview
- Merge Labs emerged from stealth with about $252 million in seed funding from investors including OpenAI, Bain Capital and Gabe Newell.
- OpenAI said it invested because BCIs could become a natural interface for AI and it will collaborate on scientific foundation models and tools to handle limited, noisy brain data.
- The company says it will avoid brain implants by interfacing with neurons using molecules and transmitting signals with deep‑reaching ultrasound.
- Merge plans to begin with therapeutic applications to restore lost abilities from neurological injury or disease before considering broader augmentation use cases.
- TechCrunch reported, citing an unnamed source, that OpenAI wrote the largest check in the round and that the financing valued Merge at about $850 million.