2025 Neurotech Review: BCIs, Brain Delivery, Organoids and Neuro-AI Move Closer to Clinic
Forward signals for 2026—from >$1.3B in tracked financings led by Neuralink’s $650M round to a shoebox-sized biocomputer, driven device control, speech restoration, and early clinical proof points
As we step into 2026, let’s look back at how neurotech unfolded over the past year. In 2025, neurotechnology broadened and sped up across multiple fronts. BCIs, brain-targeted delivery, neurodiagnostics, organoids, and neuro-focused AI all saw more activity moving from concept work into larger studies, bigger datasets, and concrete development plans, with sizable Series A-D rounds backing specific bets on CNS biology.
Invasive & Minimally Invasive BCIs
Brain-computer interface (BCI) systems are being explored and used as a way to restore lost motor, speech, or sensory functions, particularly in patients with paralysis or neurodegenerative conditions. They work by placing electrodes on or in the brain to capture high-resolution neural activity, which is then translated into actions like moving a cursor, generating speech, or triggering stimulation.
Typically, BCIs include implanted pulse generators and wireless connections to external processors, which decode brain signals such as spikes or local field potentials from targeted brain areas, then use trained algorithms to translate those activity patterns into outputs such as cursor motion, text, or stimulation commands.
In 2025, several programs moved into multi-center or early pivotal territory:
Neuralink extended its PRIME program into Great Britain with the GB-PRIME study at UCLH and Newcastle, evaluating the fully implantable N1 interface in patients with motor neuron disease and spinal cord injury, and reporting the first UK patient controlling a computer within hours after surgery. The same implant was used at home by ALS patient Brad Smith to control a motorized Insta360 webcam, demonstrating extended real-world use beyond cursor control.
Paradromics received FDA IDE approval for its Connexus system to start the Connect-One early feasibility study, targeting speech restoration and computer control in people with severe paralysis via a high-bandwidth, fully implantable BCI. The Connect-One trial is designed around speech restoration as a primary endpoint rather than generic cursor control.
Precision Neuroscience advanced its thin-film Layer 7 cortical interface. The 1,024-electrode subdural array, FDA-cleared as a temporary mapping device, was profiled in first human recipients as a minimally invasive, high-density platform that sits on the cortical surface rather than penetrating tissue.
CorTec’s Brain Interchange BCI system reached first-in-human use in a stroke patient as a fully wireless, closed-loop implant capable of recording and stimulating cortex in real time, positioning it as a European competitor in implantable neuromodulatory BCIs.
Synchron introduced an updated version of its endovascular Stentrode BCI that integrates Nvidia AI and the Apple Vision Pro headset to let people with severe paralysis control digital and physical environments using neural signals. Later, Synchron publicly demonstrated a person with ALS using its implanted Stentrode to control an iPad entirely by thought by converting neural motor-intent signals into native iPadOS inputs.