Overview

• Merge Labs aims to secure $250 million at an $850 million valuation with most capital expected from OpenAI’s ventures team despite no firm commitment.
• Sam Altman will co-found Merge Labs alongside Alex Blania but will not invest personally or oversee its day-to-day operations.
• Merge Labs is positioning a less-invasive, AI-heavy brain–computer interface approach to challenge Neuralink’s implant-based technology.
• Neuralink, founded in 2016, is already conducting human trials and recently closed a $650 million funding round at a roughly $9 billion valuation.
• The reported move marks a new front in the public and legal rivalry between Sam Altman and Elon Musk as competition expands into neurotechnology.