Merge Labs
Company · San Francisco, California, USA
BCI start-up co-founded by Sam Altman that is pursuing non-implanted interfaces based on ultrasound and molecular approaches.
Merge Labs came out of stealth in January 2026 with a $252 million seed round led by Bain Capital, with OpenAI as its largest investor. Rather than electrodes, it plans to read and influence brain activity using ultrasound combined with molecular tools, targeting medical uses first.
In the news
FundingNon-invasive
Sam Altman's Merge Labs launches with $252M to build non-invasive brain interfaces
OpenAI is the largest investor in the seed round, led by Bain Capital. The start-up is betting on ultrasound and molecular tools instead of electrodes.