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N1 implant (Telepathy)Neuralink—

Neuralink

N1 brain implant, surgical robot, Blindsight

US$9B privateest. 2016neuralink.com (opens neuralink.com)Checked 25 Sep

The brief

Analyst view
  • First human implant in Jan 2024; 21 people implanted across its trials as of Jan 2026.
  • In early 2024 threads pulled out of the first patient's brain and many channels went quiet; software fixes won back much of it.
  • Blindsight, for blindness, got FDA Breakthrough status in Sep 2024; first human implant awaits approval.

Technical approach

As reported
Threads

Flexible threads, not needles

64 bendy threads, each thinner than a hair with 16 electrodes, go a few millimeters into the brain, aiming to cause less damage and scarring.

Robot

A robot surgeon

The R1 robot maps the brain surface with cameras and inserts each thread while avoiding blood vessels, a job too fine for human hands.

Chip

A chip on the implant

A custom chip picks out brain-cell firing on the implant itself, so only a small amount of data is sent out by Bluetooth.

Power

Sealed and wireless

The coin-sized implant replaces a disc of skull, has no wires out of the body, and charges through the skin.

Programs

Neuralink, two programs

Updated 28 Jan 2026
N1 implant (Telepathy)A fully implanted, wireless brain chip placed over the brain's hand area. People paralyzed by spinal injury or ALS use it to control a cursor and keyboard by imagining moving.ProtoNextMain trial toward FDA approvalUpdated 28 Jan 2026View program →BlindsightA version of the implant that stimulates the brain's vision area based on a camera feed, aiming to give people who lost both eyes or optic nerves basic, low-detail sight.ResearchNextFirst human implantUpdated 1 Sep 2024View program →
Research · Proto · Pilot · Deploy · Scaling

Research & demos

3 items

Open technical problems

Open · Active · Partial
  • Signals that fade over timeActive research

    Threads shifting, tiny movements and the brain's reaction to the implant reduce the working channels over months and years.

  • More channels, more heatActive research

    More electrodes and processing use more power; implants must stay within tight limits on heating the brain.

  • Writing images into the brainOpen

    Making useful images needs many precisely controlled stimulation points; early vision will be very low-detail.

Peers

Brain implants · 2

Company & funding

2 rounds · as reported
Valuation
$9Bprivate
Raised
$930Mdisclosed private rounds
Last round
Series EJun 2025
HQ
US
Founded
2016
DateRoundAmountPost-moneyLead
Jun 2025Series E$650M——
Aug 2023Series D$280M—Founders Fund

Partners & customers

1 partner · 1 investor

People

Key people
Primer