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Endovascular brain-computer interface (BCI) company Synchron has raised $75 million in a Series C financing round led by ARCH Venture Partners. ARCH has also on-boarded new investors Gates Frontier, Reliance Digital Health Limited, Bezos Expeditions, Greenoaks, Alumni Ventures, Moore Strategic Ventures, and Project X. 

Existing investors including Khosla Ventures, METIS, Forepont Capital Partners, NeuroTechnology Investors, ID8 Investments, Shanda Group, and the University of Melbourne participated in the round. The Series C funding brings the total amount raised by the company since inception to $145 million.

The company will use the funding to accelerate development of its platform product (Synchron SwitchTM BCI), and launch a pivotal clinical trial. Ari Nowacek from ARCH Venture Partners will join Synchron’s Board, and ARCH Co-founder and Managing Director Robert Nelsen will join as a Board Observer.

“We have an opportunity to deliver a first-in-class commercial BCI. The problem of paralysis is much larger than people realise. 100 million people worldwide have upper limb impairment,” said Tom Oxley, CEO & Founder, Synchron. “We are extremely excited to work with ARCH and this world-class syndicate to bring this technology to the people who need it.”

Founded in 2012, US-based Synchron has been developing a BCI platform that avoids the need for open brain surgery by using a minimally-invasive procedure.

The Synchron SwitchTM brain computer interface is implanted in the blood vessel on the surface of the motor cortex of the brain via the jugular vein through a minimally-invasive endovascular procedure.