Precision Neuroscience, a brain-computer interface company that connects AI with human intelligence, announced it closed a $102 million Series C funding round led by General Equity Holdings, bringing its total raise to $155 million.

Steadview Capital, B Capital and Duquesne Family Office, the investment firm of Stanley F. Druckenmiller, participated in the round. 

The funding comes less than two months after Precision Neuroscience announced it secured $93 million in a planned $100 million funding round, with the deal valuing the startup at around $500 million.

WHAT IT DOES

New York-based Precision Neuroscience offers its brain implant, the Layer 7 Cortical Interface, which conforms to the surface of the brain and allows for the operation of digital devices through thought. Layer 7 is currently in testing. 

Brain signals are recorded by thin-film electrodes and translated by a local processing unit placed between the scalp and the skull. The information is then relayed to a connected digital device, which turns the user's thoughts into actions. 

Neurosurgeon Ben Rapoport, who was also a cofounder of Elon Musk's brain implant company Neuralink, founded the company.

MARKET SNAPSHOT

Precision Neuroscience closed a $41 million Series B funding round last year.

Musk's Neuralink, launched in 2016, is a direct competitor of Precision Neuroscience. Neuralink has raised over $685 million. Last year, it scored $43 million in Series D funding, according to an SEC filing. 

Last month, Neuralink announced it received approval to launch a feasibility study, CONVOY, which will test the use of its wireless brain-computer interface, or N1 implant, to control an investigational assistive robotic arm.

Another brain-computer interface company is Synchron, the startup behind an FDA breakthrough neuroprosthesis device that aims to give patients with paralysis the ability to control digital devices with their thoughts.

In September, Synchron announced that one of the patients, a 64-year-old man named Mark with ALS, used his thoughts to control his smart home through the Tap to Alexa feature on his Amazon Fire tablet. 

"This capability allows Mark to utilize the Synchron brain-computer interface to select customized tiles that perform pre-set Alexa actions, like turning on and off lights, making video calls, playing music and shows, controlling smart home devices, reading books on Kindle or purchasing items on Amazon—entirely hands and voice-free," the company said in a statement.