Elon Musk's Neuralink raises over $200 million from Google Ventures, others

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's brain-chip startup, Neuralink, has raised $205 million in a funding round led by Dubai-based venture capital firm Vy Capital, with participation from Alphabet Inc's Google Ventures, the company said on Thursday.

Neuralink aims to implant wireless brain-computer chips to help cure neurological conditions including Alzheimer's, dementia and spinal cord injuries and fuse humankind with artificial intelligence.

The company released a video in April showing a male macaque playing a videogame "Mind Pong" after getting chips embedded on each side of its brain.

"First @Neuralink product will enable someone with paralysis to use a smartphone with their mind faster than someone using thumbs," Musk tweeted in June.

Also read: Looking for a smartphone? Check Mobile Finder here.

"The device is implanted flush with skull & charges wirelessly, so you look & feel totally normal," he added. 

Valor Equity Partners, Craft Ventures and Founders Fund also participated in the series C funding round. 

Co-founded by Musk in 2016, San Francisco-based Neuralink will use the funds to take its first product, N1 Link, to the market, and for research and development.

Musk has a history of bringing together diverse experts to develop technology previously limited to academic labs through companies such as Tesla Inc, SpaceX and Boring Co.

SpaceX, a private space company, said in an amended regulatory filing in April, it had raised about $1.16 billion in equity financing.