Futurist > Companies creating the future > 9 leading Brain-Computer Interface companies
9 leading Brain-Computer Interface Companies and their current and prospective products
Many have said that the brain and mind are the final frontier of science. Indeed, very little is known about that gray mass of cells in our skull that plays an important role in cognition; regulation of heart, lung, and other systems and functions; movement, and more. With approximately 100 billion neural connections, our brains are capable of processing billions of bits of information per second. The latest trend in unlocking the mysteries of the mind is brain-computer interfaces.
In the public sector, initiatives such as the Human Brain Project (2013-2023) have accelerated research that helps us learn more about our own brains; its open-science successor, EBRAINS, now carries the torch.
In the private sector, a number of companies are working to develop effective brain-machine interfaces for a wide range of uses. Read on to learn more about nine companies focused on direct communication from human brains to machines and the technologies and approaches they are using to make the future arrive faster.
Neuralink
Founded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the ultimate goal of Neuralink is to create a symbiosis between the human brain and AI, specifically merging computers with the human brain. They are building devices that will help people with paralysis, memory loss, hearing loss, blindness and other neurological problems. Ongoing projects seek to outfit the human brain with thin thread-like electrodes – sewing the “threads” into the brain – so that the brain’s cells can be directly accessed and manipulated using artificial intelligence.
The company has looked to academia to hire several high-profile neuroscientists who can lend their expertise to developing the new frontier of brain-machine interfaces. In January 2024 Neuralink implanted its first human participant; by mid-2025 three people were using the N1 chip daily to play video games, browse the web and control external hardware. Since its founding in 2016, Neuralink has raised over $1 billion – including a $650 million Series E in June 2025 – to bring its vision-, speech- and mobility-restoring chips to market.
Neurable
Neurable describes itself as a company focused on bringing technology from the lab into the real world so that neurotechnology is simple and accessible enough to use in your everyday life. For them, that is creating cognitive-measurement tools and developing a way to measure the brain’s emotional state, specifically designed for attention – understood more precisely as “cognitive load.” The company made news in 2017 for inventing the world’s first brain-controlled virtual-reality (VR) game, where players wore an EEG headset and drove a remote-controlled car with their minds.
Today, they are in conversations with various wings of the military to use Neurable devices to increase performance and reduce training time. In June 2021 they launched the Enten smart headphones on IndieGoGo, raising $231,000 from 1,051 backers. A $13 million Series B in May 2024 lifted total funding to more than $30 million, and the company’s MW75 Neuro headphones began shipping the same year.
Emotiv
Emotiv builds wireless electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring headsets for scientific research and personal use, spanning an amazing variety of industries and applications – from gaming to interactive television, hands-free control systems, smart adaptive environments, market research, medicine, robotics, transport safety, defense and security.
The Emotiv range consists of the professional EPOC Flex and the consumer-oriented Insight, supported by the Emotiv Pro and Emotiv BCI software suites. In 2024 Emotiv introduced MN8 EEG earbuds, bringing everyday brain-metrics to a true-wireless form factor, and took a strategic stake in MEG-startup MYndspan in 2025. Company funding has now surpassed $7 million.
Kernel
Kernel is building the next generation of brain-measurement systems by leveraging time-domain functional near-infrared spectroscopy (TD-fNIRS). Their Kernel Flow debuted in 2021 as the world’s first wearable full-head-coverage TD-fNIRS system. Flow 2, introduced in 2023, delivers fMRI-like spatial resolution in a helmet that sets up in under three minutes and is already powering large-scale clinical and psychedelic-medicine studies.
The original goal of Kernel was to develop a way to store memories outside of the brain and upload new memories to the hippocampus, the brain’s memory center. In 2017 founder and CEO Bryan Johnson spoke about boosting human intelligence using neural chip implants, and the company continues to recruit leading academic researchers to accelerate innovation.
Synchron
Synchron is pioneering the Stentrode™ endovascular brain-computer interface, which is implanted through the jugular vein and sits inside a blood vessel over the motor cortex. In the COMMAND early-feasibility study six U.S. participants with severe paralysis have used the system to text, email and control digital devices – one demo integrated GPT-4 for hands-free chat. Backed by investors including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, Synchron has raised $145 million to date, including a $75 million Series C in December 2022.
Blackrock Neurotech
(https://blackrockneurotech.com)
Blackrock Neurotech – builders of the famed Utah Array – received FDA Breakthrough Device designation for its MoveAgain BCI system in 2021. The company is now working toward the first at-home implantable BCI for people with tetraplegia, aiming to restore communication and motor function. Blackrock has secured more than $200 million in total funding to commercialize its platform.
Paradromics
Austin-based Paradromics is developing Connexus®, a high-bandwidth cortical implant that streams thousands of neural channels simultaneously. On June 2 2025 the company completed its first-in-human recording during epilepsy surgery, demonstrating safe implantation, data capture and removal in under twenty minutes. Paradromics has raised $105 million in venture capital, plus $18 million in NIH and DARPA grants.
Precision Neuroscience
Founded by Neuralink co-founder Benjamin Rapoport, Precision Neuroscience created the Layer 7 Cortical Interface – an ultra-thin, flexible micro-electrode film that conforms to the brain’s surface with minimal tissue disruption. In December 2024 the company closed a $102 million Series C to accelerate clinical trials and scale manufacturing, after reporting record-setting 4,096-electrode human recordings.
Bitbrain
Bitbrain combines neuroscience, artificial intelligence and hardware to develop high-tech EEG sensing devices and other human-monitoring technologies, together with software solutions for real-world applications and research. Launched in 2010 by researchers at the University of Zaragoza in Spain, it is recognized as a world reference for B2B neurotechnology solutions.
The company offers a slew of state-of-the-art wearables and monitoring software; its 2024 Diadem dry-EEG headset brings 12-channel coverage to quick-fit, real-world research settings ranging from neuromarketing to cognitive-workload assessment.
The future of brain-computer interfaces remains exciting. With the advance in machine learning and artificial intelligence tools, coupled with the increasing power of computer processors, it may not be long until the neurotechnologies championed by these companies become a reality.
