Bezos and Gates Back Synchron in Drive for Brain Implant Breakthrough

Bloomberg: Last March, brain-computing interface expert Tom Oxley sat down to dinner with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to talk about Oxley's nascent company, Synchron. That meal in Ojai, Calif., ended with something better than dessert: Bezos told Oxley that he wanted to invest in the business. Synchron said Thursday it completed a $75 million funding round, part of it from Bezos Expeditions. The financing was led by ARCH Venture Partners, and includes a check from Gates Frontier, the venture investment arm of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and others. Existing investors also participated, including Khosla Ventures -- whose founder, Vinod Khosla, introduced Oxley to Gates.

Brain-computer interfaces, known as BCIs, can interpret and stimulate parts of the brain and are seen as a possible treatment for brain injuries. New investors approached Synchron 'through the lens of making an impact in neurology in an area of need,' Oxley said in an interview. They 'saw BCI as a future therapeutic.' About 100 million people globally have upper limb impairment, he said, and could benefit from the technology. Synchron's Switch device aims to help paralyzed people, such as those with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), communicate by controlling computer cursors with their minds. The company has already enrolled three patients in a six-person US feasibility trial and implanted the device in two of them. Oxley expects the remaining patients to enroll and receive their implants in the next few months.

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