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Notables #65: Oct 16-31 2026

Naveen Rao from Neurotech Futures

Notables #65: Oct 16-31 2026

NYBCI Week: BCI Evolves with New Deals, More Claims, & Steady Progress

Happy Monday Readers - Welcome to #NYBCI Week!

I’ve got a thousand things to do before packing and flying to JFK so I’ll keep this one quick. A personal highlight: I interviewed the Scherb family for a Forbes writeup about why advocacy in DC matters more than ever. Now: let’s dive into the headlines from the last half of October:

  • Funding: $200m+ new capital led by another nine-figure raise in China, but the news I’m more excited by is the solid fundraises for both cancer and cardiac applications of neurotech by Coherence and StimCardio. While AI might be eating some BCI attention right now, I’m bullish that multi-billion dollar clinical markets for next-gen applications are just starting to open up.

  • Commercial: Paradromics’ teams up with Siemens Healthineers on BCI imaging, one of two of ‘dromics headlines in this issue. Precision expands partnerships in Abu Dhabi. Beacon acquires Snap Diagnostics, Stratus picks up Zeto for distribution, and SetPoint lands in Boston at BIDMC.

  • See also my contributions to Velco’s excellent (paid) report at InsideBCI: Brain-Computer Interfaces: The Infrastructure Race. Brain-computer interfaces are being priced, coded and regulated ahead of sales. The report covers key developments in the past six months, and pairs what happened with a strategic frame and practical actions to take over the next 6-18 months.

  • Regulatory: FDA launches its Neuroscience Advancement and Innovation Nexus, with Alzheimer’s first in line, and CereVasc wasted no time tying its eShunt IDE to the news. More news from: Pharaoh Neuro, Click Therapeutics, Lenire, and others.

  • Industry Buzz: Speech BCIs everywhere on X. Neurofounders scrutinizes Sabi’s evolving claims in a must-read analysis, while Sabi announces a new vision. The hype cycle here is turning into a challenge for new investors to navigate. Neuralink posted 75 wpm in week one of VOICE (one participant, company-reported). Columbia is giving unresponsive ICU patients a voice, and ETH shows how meaning shapes speech decoding.

  • Mental Health: Ampa’s Target Lock, LifeStance’s TRD outcomes, an AI-guided rTMS update, and NYU’s “gentle ultrasound” for delusions. Plus: Spinogenix’s EEG-screened autism trial, Karavela’s 90 hours of fMRI, and lots of timely research papers. “And More.”

Note - It’s very likely there some gaps in this edition as I’ve been stretched thin lately - please hit reply and share your company’s news or any items I’ve missed! Thanks so much.

See You In New York Nov 4, 5, 6

  • Nov 4: BCI Readiness Forum at Alumni Ventures’ HQ from 3-5pm. Join us for lightning talks and discussion!

  • Nov 4: NYBCI Mixer - We’re way over the 200-person capacity already but you can still register to join the waitlist, and plan to hang out and network with folks in the Martini Lounge at the Knickerbocker Hotel.

  • Nov 5-6: NYBCI26 - The Big Show is back and better than ever! Register if you haven’t already, using NTFuturesNYBCI for a discount. I’ll be running two panels on Day One:

    • Next-gen BCI with founders of Axo, Epia, Modulight, Neurobionics, and Phantom.

    • First-Mover BCI with executives from Blackrock, Neuralink, Precision, Science, and Synchron.

See the Community Board below for where I’ll be next week. Safe travels to all - without further ado, here are your Notables.

👋🏽 Hi, I’m Naveen. I believe brain health is human health. You are one of the 7,260 readers of my biweekly reports on emerging neurotech markets.
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  • PL Neuro: Neurotech: Humanity’s Next Frontier (X)

  • Resonant Link Medical: Want to derisk and accelerate your device development, while enabling new capabilities? Meet Vivigo: next-generation wireless power for smaller, smarter, and longer lasting neurotech and implantable devices.

  • NANS: Explore the next frontier of BCI and neurotech at NANS 2027, January 21–24 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas! Discover emerging science and connect with clinicians, engineers, and researchers advancing neural interfaces from concept to clinical impact. Explore the program and register.

  • TTP: Developing regulated medical device software successfully shouldn’t mean choosing between speed and control. TTP’s Software team explores how early decisions around architecture, risk and verification can help teams develop software efficiently and with confidence from the outset, while avoiding costly problems later. Discover more.

  • Datwyler: Sometimes you do not need much to get great value. To support our customers in faster testing and development, we introduce SoftPulse® Pad - a high contact surface design of our flagship technology with standard ECG snap for easy connection. Get in touch to speed up your development in biopotential collection!

Funding

  • NeuroXess raises RMB 700M (~$100M) Series B co-led by SDIC Juli, Shenzhen Capital Group and Qinzhi Capital (TechNode | PEdaily)

  • Coherence Neuro announces their $45M Series A co-led by Founders Fund and the OpenAI Startup Fund (Coherence)

  • StimCardio Closes Oversubscribed $30 Million Series A Financing to Advance Wearable Therapeutic for Atrial Fibrillation (PR Newswire)

  • Blue Arbor Technologies Raises $10.5 Million Series A Led by Ottobock (Business Wire)

  • Global Network for the Advancement of Metabolic Psychiatry (MetPsy) Launches with $20 Million Investment at McLean Hospital (Business Wire)

    Note there are many BCI deals coming out of China lately too - I have not verified these deals yet but am tallying them up in the background.

Commercial

  • Paradromics and Siemens Healthineers Launch Strategic Initiative to Build Advanced Imaging Foundation for the Future of Brain-Computer Interfaces (Paradromics)

  • Beacon Biosignals Acquires Snap Diagnostics, Paving the Way for EEG-Enabled Home Sleep Testing in Every Care Setting (Beacon Biosignals)

  • Precision Neuroscience Expands Clinical Network Beyond the U.S. with First International Site in Abu Dhabi (Globe Newswire)

  • Stratus and Zeto Announce Strategic Distribution Partnership to Expand Access to Point-of-Care EEG in Hospitals Nationwide (PRweb)

  • Read/Write Labs Debuts to Build AI Platform That Writes Code for the Brain (PR Newswire)

    • Formerly known as Dandelion Science…I liked the old name better

  • Liminal Labs appoints Prof. Wouter De Jonge as Scientific Advisor (LinkedIn)

  • SetPoint Medical Announces First SetPoint® System Procedure in Boston at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Setpoint)

  • Saluda Medical’s shares hit record low on Evoke device recall (Reuters)

Regulatory

  • US Treasury proposes barring new US private investment in Chinese brain-computer interface companies (Inside BCI)

    • Treasury press release (Treasury) - This lumps together quite a bit of tech essential to the global economy…your thoughts about this are welcome.

  • Lenire Now Included in U.S. ENT Clinical Practice Guidelines – First New Treatment Added by American Academy of Otolaryngology Since Establishment of the Academy’s Tinnitus Guidelines (PR Newswire)

  • FDA Launches New Program to Advance Neuroscience Medical Product Development (FDA)

    • ARPA-H invests in new Alzheimer’s projects to accelerate early detection and treatment (ARPA-H)

  • CereVasc Receives FDA IDE Approval to Evaluate the eShunt® System in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease (Cerevasc)

    • CereVasc will investigate whether the eShunt System may support the brain’s natural process for clearing neurotoxins associated with AD by increasing CSF cycling. “The FDA’s launch of the Neuroscience Advancement and Innovation Nexus, with Alzheimer’s prevention and early intervention as its first focus, makes this study especially timely,” said Dr. Adnan Siddiqui, Vice Chairman of Neurosurgery at SUNY Buffalo’s Jacobs School of Medicine and CEO of the Jacobs Institute. “Investigating mechanisms to improve the brain’s clearance pathways can potentially make a big difference in disease progression and is exactly the kind of approach we need to investigate.”

  • Paradromics Receives FDA Approval to Expand Connexus® Brain-Computer Interface Clinical Study Recruitment Nationwide (Paradromics)

  • Pharaoh Neuro’s Neurapheresis has received Breakthrough Device Designation from the FDA (LinkedIn | BioSpace)

  • FDA Clears Motivista (CT-155), the First Therapeutic Indicated for the Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia (Click Therapeutics)

  • electroCore, Inc. Submits 510(k) Premarket Notification to FDA Seeking Clearance of Quell® for the Treatment of Chronic Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy (Globe Newswire)

📌Community Board

🆕Pin your news - Highlight key deals, events, roles, or announcements!

I’m doing my best Carmen San Diego impression. See you soon?

Industry

  • Investigating the Beanie designed to read your thoughts (Neurofounders)

  • Reinforcement Learning with Neural Feedback (Sabi)

  • Spinogenix Announces Phase 2b Trial for Autism Using Novel Brain-Wave Screening to Target Treatment (PR Newswire)

  • Cocaine Use Disorder Market Outlook to Strengthen During the Forecast Period (2026-2036) with Emerging Therapies and Rising Healthcare Needs (PR Newswire)

  • PurMinds Announces Clinical Validation Collaboration with SpectroChip and Taiwan’s Kaohsiung Municipal Siaogang Hospital (PR Newswire)

  • Asha Medical: Non-invasive electromagnetic fields induce anti-tumor neutrophil reprogramming and enhance checkpoint blockade in breast cancer (Frontiers in Immunology)

  • Ampa Introduces Target Lock to Clinics Nationwide to Support Precise, Consistent Coil Positioning (Ampa Health)

  • Penetrating auditory nerve implant passes bench tests for first-in-human trial (Bioengineer)

  • Implantable device uses ultrasound to improve drug delivery to the brain (MIT)

  • China-led international standard for BCI reference architecture published (21st Century Business Herald)

  • StairMed reports 42 long-term implants of its invasive BCI; 256-channel WRS 01 enters registration trial (Yicai)

  • Early Neuralink VOICE data: participant with ALS reaches 75 wpm, 5.8% WER in first week (X | TeslaNorth)

  • BCI Companies Demonstrate Progress at Scale (Neurofounders)

  • Cephalonauts One: 90 hours of whole-brain fMRI recorded during naturalistic speech (Karavela)

  • LifeStance Patients With Treatment-Resistant Depression See Clinically Meaningful Improvement in Symptoms After Esketamine or TMS Treatment, New Data Shows (PR Newswire)

Neurotech.TV

  • Ex-DeepMind scientist: $1B bet on brain-based AI (This Is Progress)

  • FDA Approval of Home-Use Occipital & Trigeminal Stimulation MDD (Carpenter, Leuchter & Muir | IPC)

  • Neuralink’s Newest Brain Chip Isn’t What You Think (YouTube)

  • Podcast: Focused Ultrasound for Depression and Beyond, with Grey Matter Neurosciences CEO Jeffrey Coull (FUS Foundation)

  • Combining Point-of-Care EEG with 24/7 Remote Monitoring (Zeto & Stratus)

Society

  • Proof of Concept: The Cure Trap and the Future of Research (Tomorrow Edition)

  • Your Sleep Habits May Point to a Specific Type of Depression, a New Study Finds (NY Times)

  • Recognizing Brain Pioneering as Hard Work: Strategies for Making Research Participation More Meaningful (Hastings Center Report)

  • Rethinking Privacy of the Mind: Why Protecting Neural Data Is Insufficient (Daniel Solove)

Research

  • Salience Researchers Contribute to Published Study Exploring Single-Day TMS for Bipolar Depression (PR Newswire)

  • New Study Links ADHD to More Than Fourfold Higher Hazard of Cognitive Impairment (PR Newswire)

  • Study Finds Treating Depression During Pregnancy May Benefit Babies’ Brain Development (PR Newswire)

  • Gentle Brain Ultrasound May Help Ease Delusions in Schizophrenia (NYU Langone)

  • A Brain-Computer Interface May Give Unresponsive ICU Patients a Voice (CUIMC)

  • Examining the bridge between neuroscience and AI (The Transmitter)

  • Transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation for functional recovery in individuals with hereditary spastic paraplegia: Protocol for a pilot clinical trial (PLOS One)

  • Rapid alternation of conscious and suppressed stimulus representations in the primate brain (bioRxiv)

  • AI-guided rTMS personalization across 1,609 patients in 19 clinics (npj Digital Medicine)

  • Top-down semantic predictions align phonetic neuronal dynamics in human superior temporal gyrus (Nature Communications | ETH Zurich)

  • Melanin Bias in Cerebral fNIRS: A Monte Carlo Study Toward Equitable Optical Brain Sensing (Biosensors)

  • Holographic mesoscope reads, writes from different cortical regions simultaneously (The Transmitter)

That’s a wrap! What did we miss? Let me know for next time.

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© 2026 Naveen Rao
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