Neurotech Newsletter #42

Chay's Neurotech NewsletterNov 2, 2026

Neurotech Newsletter #42

Global neurotech news - 26 October to 1 November 2026

Nov 2

Welcome to the 42nd edition. Quite a lot has happened across neurotech this week. Neuralink has been testing more practical speech BCI tools, Precision Neuroscience is heading to Abu Dhabi and there has been another run of financing and clinical news out of China. A few of these developments really caught my eye.

I also published Neurotech in the Central US: From the Great Lakes to the Gulf last week. That piece brought together the companies, researchers and investors shaping the region, with plenty of useful input from people working there. This week I’m turning my attention to the rest of the western US. If you’re building something there, researching the space or interested in helping me map the ecosystem, please get in touch. I’m keen to hear what I’ve missed and speak to the people behind the work.

The market map now tracks over 2000 companies and 1700 investors. Reach out if you’d like to understand how this can help your business get in front of more of the right people, or understand your competitor landscape, etc.

I’ll be in New York for the BCI Symposium on 5–6 November, so let me know if you’re going. Anyway, here’s what caught my attention this week.

Five headlines to look out for

Funding / M&A: NeuroXess reports RMB 700 million Series B

Regulatory: Epiminder expands Minder FDA clearance to ages 12–75

Clinical & Research: Neuralink prototypes mobile speech BCI and phone integration

Commercial: Precision Neuroscience opens first international clinical research site

Who Got Hired: SetPoint Medical appoints Dan Dearen to its board

Funding / M&A

There’s been some serious funding activity this week, particularly around BCIs and neuromodulation. NeuroXess reported a RMB 700 million Series B, StimCardio raised $30 million for its wearable atrial fibrillation treatment and Blue Arbor closed $10.5 million with Ottobock leading the round. Different technologies and different stages, but a useful snapshot of where money is going. What caught the eye was the activity in China as well. MedLink BCI reported a RMB 100 million Series B and BRAINCLOS appeared in the financing databases, although the precise terms of that one are still a little unclear (not uncommon when tracking Chinese investment)

It’s also worth looking at what the money is actually for. With NeuroXess, we’re talking about registration trials and manufacturing, not just another early-stage concept. With StimCardio, the focus is on moving a wearable therapy through the next stage of clinical development. Those are the sorts of details I find interesting because they tell us a bit more about how companies are progressing. We’ll keep tracking the investors and rounds in the Market Map as well. Here are this week’s funding headlines.

NeuroXess confirms a CNY700m Series B for registration trials, manufacturing and next-generation BCI work

StimCardio closes a $30 million Series A to fund a pivotal Rhyvive neuromodulation trial

Blue Arbor Technologies closes a $10.5 million Series A led by Ottobock

MedLink BCI completes an RMB100 million Series B

BRAINCLOS records an undisclosed financing from Mingxi Capital and 5Y Capital

StairMed discloses about CNY1.4bn raised since the start of H2 2026 and CNY2.6bn in cumulative financing by September

Guangdong opens its 2027 brain-computer-interface R&D programme for applications

Regulatory / Reimbursement

A fair bit has happened on the regulatory side too with some genuinely interesting milestones. Epiminder has expanded the age range for Minder, which brings adolescent patients into the eligible population. CereVasc has received an IDE to investigate eShunt in people with early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease, while Paradromics can now consider Connect-One participants from across the US rather than restricting recruitment by proximity to a study site. Pharaoh Neuro also announced Breakthrough Device Designation for Neurapheresis. Four different developments, but all worth knowing about.

Some companies are extending access to existing technology, some are preparing to collect their first clinical evidence and others are working through the earlier stages of review. There have also been reimbursement developments, device filings and BCI standards activity in China. Here’s the full list.

Epiminder receives FDA clearance to expand Minder eligibility to patients aged 12–75

CereVasc receives FDA IDE approval to study eShunt in early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease

Paradromics receives FDA approval to expand Connect-One recruitment nationwide

Pharaoh Neuro publicly announces FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for the investigational Neurapheresis system

Deep Reasoning AI’s NeuroDR receives FDA 510(k) clearance K262134 for automated neurovascular CTA processing

BrainAurora receives Beijing Class II registration for depression cognitive-function assessment software

BrainsWay reports U.S. insurance coverage for Deep TMS OCD treatment exceeds 118 million lives

electroCore submits a 510(k) seeking FDA clearance of Quell for chronic chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy

MicroPort NeuroScientific’s Susilk wave-shaped detachable coil receives NMPA market approval

China registers a technical-requirements project for BCI scientific large-scale models

KATS lists Gbrain’s cortical-electrode manufacturing technology for intended NET certification extension

Shenzhen market regulator launches a BCI medical-device regulatory workshop and testing-capacity initiative

FDA posts a Class II recall for Nalu TD2 Therapy Discs affected by a firmware failure

FDA adds implantable gastric electrical-stimulation systems to the medical-device shortage list

Shanghai regulator lists Changsanjiang Guozhi EEG data-processing software registration

NET Recovery is accepted into FDA TAP for the NET Device stimulant-use indication

Clinical & Research is the biggest section (as always) this week, and there’s quite a bit in here that caught my eye. Neuralink’s speech BCI work is probably the obvious place to start, particularly the move towards practical things such as phone calls and hands-free communication. There has also been more implantable BCI activity in China, a new study combining BCI technology with spinal stimulation and a hand exoskeleton for stroke rehabilitation, and some interesting early work in neuroprosthetic control. It’s a good mix of studies that are already involving patients and technologies still being developed in the lab.

The research side is just as varied. We’ve picked up work on ultrasound, deep brain stimulation, epilepsy, motor recovery, EEG decoding and ways of interpreting neural signals. Some of the algorithm papers are quite technical, but I don’t want to lose them: this is a neurotechnology newsletter, and a lot of progress happens in those smaller steps. I’ve kept everything under Clinical & Research rather than creating more sections or making people hunt through Further Reading. The headlines are arranged so the human studies and practical developments come first, followed by the more technical work for anyone who wants to dig deeper.

Neuralink reports 75-word-per-minute speech decoding in one VOICE participant with ALS

StairMed reports 42 long-term BCI implants and completed WRS 01 registration-trial enrollment

Wireless magnetic muscle implants support multi-degree neuroprosthetic control in three amputees

Beijing Tiantan Hospital registers a closed-loop BCI, spinal-stimulation and hand-exoskeleton stroke study

NeuroOne publishes initial OneRF trigeminal-neuralgia clinical experience in 15 patients

MIT and Mass General Brigham report an implantable ultrasound-assisted neural drug-delivery device

UCLA-led study reports targeted transcranial ultrasound alters thalamic functions in healthy volunteers

High-intensity tACS randomized trial reports improved post-stroke cognitive outcomes versus sham

MILD-MT trial reports better 90-day outcomes with endovascular therapy in imaging-selected mild large-vessel stroke

TRANSFORM-AD analysis reports improved sleep quality after 15 mA stimulation in mild Alzheimer’s disease

Brainomix and Remedy disclose an exploratory CHARM post-hoc imaging analysis in severe stroke

Baylor team reports forniceal DBS improves memory in Rett-syndrome mice

Keio researchers report portable-EEG markers predicting motor recovery after chronic stroke rehabilitation

Beijing brain institute launches three national BCI projects spanning semi-invasive systems, implant feedthroughs and motor decoding

ICN2-led POLARIS is selected for EIC Pathfinder support to develop graphene brain implants

NUH and NUS Medicine report early personalised-TMS OCD observations and begin a depression/anxiety study

Instituto Santos Dumont team builds an EEG- and head-movement-controlled airplane game at BR41N.IO

ICMC-USP develops a VR, eye-tracking and EEG platform for early cognitive-decline assessment

CAS researchers report distinct PV and FoxP2 pallidal-neuron roles in perceptual decision-making

Pazhou Lab-led study identifies a neuronal–astrocytic iron-signalling axis in stress-induced anxiety

7 T MRI feasibility study maps individual sciatic-nerve fascicles in six healthy volunteers

ASD exercise protocol will use fNIRS to track brain-network changes in a 70-child randomized trial

fMRI analysis links progressive aerobic training with altered default-mode-network topology in internet gaming disorder

Trial tests 10 Hz rTMS plus cognitive-load training in adolescents with major depression

Proton MRS study reports vmPFC neurometabolite differences in adolescents with bipolar depression and obsessive-compulsive symptoms

Sham-controlled trial compares tDCS, embodiment psychotherapy and their combination in major depression

Pilot fMRI neurofeedback trial finds amygdala downregulation but no consistent added benefit over DBT alone

Wearable study finds clinical upper-limb capacity and real-world arm use diverge during six-month stroke recovery

MRI study links post-stroke aphasia recovery to structural-functional decoupling and neurotransmitter-informed lesion metrics

Digit-resolved grip dynamometer is validated against standard handgrip testing in 22 volunteers

Brazil’s CISM deploys a multimodal brain/body imaging platform at São Paulo and Porto Alegre hospitals

Neuromodulation publishes basic research on distinct subthalamic signatures of DBS outcomes for bradykinesia and rigidity

Prospective nonrandomized cohort compares long-term quality of life after GPi DBS with optimized medical therapy in advanced Parkinson’s disease

Prospective single-arm study examines home-based transcutaneous auricular vagus-nerve stimulation for acute migraine in children and adolescents

Fear-learning brain dynamics predict extinction-memory expression after TMS-modulated extinction

Neurable shares month-long focus data from 15 Neurable One users

Exploratory bipolar II study maps network and electric-field changes after rTMS, tACS and combined stimulation

Therapeutic electrical stimulation improves early recurrent-laryngeal-nerve recovery in a rat injury model

Pixie Dust Technologies reports higher repeated CogEvo scores in retrospective Gamma Wave Sound user data

Wuhan opens applications for BCI innovation teams and clinical technology-validation laboratories

Shanghai-led team models an extraocular temporal-interference array for large-field retinal modulation

TMS–EEG study finds distinct cortical signatures across three facilitatory neuromodulation protocols

Northeastern University study combines EEG, eye tracking and peripheral physiology to predict product-impression ratings

Exploratory magnetic-seizure-therapy study reports symptom improvement but no corrected EEG biomarker signal

Shaanxi team reports cross-subject motor-imagery decoding gains with DWDANet

Beijing Sport team publishes MTDANet for motor-imagery EEG decoding

NeuroTest introduces an open-source benchtop testbed for sensing-capable electrophysiology and neurostimulation systems

Post-stroke EEG study maps distinct network responses to vibratory and electrical stimulation

Randomized sham-controlled study examines prefrontal iTBS reactivity with fNIRS

TMS-EEG study links high pre-stimulus mu power to more consistent corticospinal responses

Soochow University-affiliated team publishes a multiscale neural interfacing device for cross-brain-region electrophysiology

Modulight Biotherapeutics details its preclinical eOPN3 optogenetic neuromodulation programme

EPFL describes spinal-cord fMRI work, including a recent 22-volunteer TMS preprint

NEMAR releases a public multi-paradigm fine-motor-imagery EEG dataset for BCI research

NEMAR releases chronic-stroke and healthy-control motor-imagery EEG dataset

Neuromodulation publishes a systematic review and meta-analysis of rescue intracranial neuromodulation after vagus-nerve-stimulation failure

Motor-cortex rTMS study reports network and transcriptomic changes in a MECP2-mutant non-human-primate Rett model

Review proposes a lifecycle framework for standardized implanted-BCI clinical safety assessment

Xi’an Jiaotong University-led researchers review OECT neural interfaces for recording and closed-loop modulation

CAS and Northwestern Polytechnical University researchers publish SpaCon for spatial transcriptomic–connectomic integration

Network meta-analysis compares electrical-stimulation modalities for depression

València–Bucaramanga collaboration publishes a 20-component BCI study-design framework

964th Hospital collaboration reviews 16 BCI stroke trials without establishing a superior output modality

Kunming collaboration proposes a closed-loop theoretical framework for basic BCI research

Kocaeli collaboration reports 95.6% four-class fNIRS accuracy on a 29-participant dataset

Huashan Hospital collaboration maps EEG features of continence intent in 90 participants

Kunming team reviews EEG, fMRI and fNIRS neurofeedback modalities for PTSD

Charité-led team shows a fixed EEG embedding generalizes across three clinical cohorts

There’s been a good spread of commercial news this week, and not just from the companies everyone already knows. Precision Neuroscience is expanding its clinical research network into Abu Dhabi, Empatica has launched WellPD for Parkinson’s monitoring and Firefly has been talking about the commercial footprint of its Versus platform. Read/Write Labs has also debuted with an ambitious idea around software for neural interfaces.

I’ve also been watching the smaller partnerships and regional launches. They don’t always make the biggest headlines, but they can tell us a lot about what a company is doing next: finding a hospital partner, opening a new geography, integrating into an existing clinical workflow or putting a product in front of customers. It’s often those developments that start to show whether something is becoming a real business. Plenty to get through here, so I’ve kept the stories as straightforward linked headlines.

Precision Neuroscience signs a two-year Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi MOU for its first international Layer 7 research site

Empatica launches WellPD for at-home Parkinson’s symptom monitoring

Firefly Neuroscience reports more than 3,000 Versus headsets shipped and a revenue-generating non-invasive BCI platform

Neuralink prototypes hands-free speech activation, mobile BCI speech and direct iPhone call integration in a 72-hour VOICE sprint

Read/Write Labs debuts as Dandelion Science’s new identity and expands its NeuroAI leadership and advisory team

Zhujiang Hospital completes South China’s first routine-clinical NEO implant

Nexstim receives an NBS 6 system order from an unnamed Finnish hospital

Ampa rolls out Target Lock nationwide for automatic off-target pausing during Ampa One TMS

NeuralPort joins NVIDIA Inception to advance gaze-based brain-fatigue prediction and Brain AI

Neumarker enters a Northern California health-system collaboration to study AI prediction of TMS response in depression

Butterfly Network discloses three Q3 BCI partners, with a third partner still unnamed

Possibility Neurotechnologies demonstrates its non-invasive BCI at BIX 2026 in Seoul

Neuralink founder says Blindsight is engineering-ready and awaiting regulatory approval

BRAINCLOS showcases closed-loop neurostimulation and multimodal monitoring research systems at WCNR 2026

Neurotone AI launches Lace Pro integration with CounselEar practice management

Beijing Normal University and four partners launch a municipal key laboratory for consciousness BCI and neuromodulation

Axogen decides to begin prostate nerve-repair market development in 2027

Cortical Dynamics joins Mayo Clinic Platform Accelerate’s October 2026 cohort

Inkon Life reports 178 brain-science service encounters and more than CNY8 million revenue for the first nine months of 2026

Healthcare Triangle launches a neurotechnology devices, training and AI-clinic-software initiative in Southeast Asia

M42 and Re:Cognition Health launch specialist memory and brain-health services in the UAE

Wearable Devices and Encord sign a collaboration for neural-enhanced Physical AI training data

NeuroDoctrine publicly debuts a non-invasive brain-signal drone-control system

China selects the “Beinao-1” paralysis-rehabilitation BCI project for its first national major-application-scenario programme

EMOTIV launches browser-based BCI experiences and a Cortex developer-learning site

Nanjing Zhili institute says its BCI rehabilitation system is adopted by two hospitals

CONIX/松果脑机 publicly debuts a three-part BCI hardware suite at CMEF

Guangdong publishes its 2026 brain-computer-interface industry white paper and industry map

And finally, the people. We’ve seen board and leadership appointments involving SetPoint Medical, Cognixion, Neurogram, UCANACT and NeuroDoctrine, alongside the appointments picked up by the sweeps. Scott Kauffman joining Cognixion’s advisory board and Charles Pallandt taking on a founding commercial role at UCANACT are two examples of companies bringing in experience from outside the core technical team. That’s always interesting to me, given how much of my week is spent talking to people building these businesses.

Here are the people moves we’ve picked up this week.

Dan Dearen joins SetPoint Medical Board of Directors

Scott Kauffman joins Cognixion Advisory Board

Jonathan Drucker joins Neurogram Labs as fractional Lead

Charles Pallandt joins UCANACT as founding Chief Commercial Officer

Lifeward appoints Ronen Tsimerman chief financial officer effective 1 November

NeuroDoctrine appoints retired Lt Gen Roger L. Cloutier Jr. to its Advisory Board as Defence Expert

HUROTICS appoints Ilbeom Choi as COO and Head of Management Planning