Oman wealth fund invests in Musk’s brain tech firm Neuralink

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Neuralink’s path to market drew regulatory and technical scrutiny

• Before approving human trials, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the agency that regulates medical devices and medicines, first rejected Neuralink’s application over safety concerns tied to its lithium battery, the risk that implant wires could shift within the brain, and the difficulty of removing the device without causing harm 1.


• After trials began, FDA inspectors found quality control problems at Neuralink’s California animal research facility in June 2023, including missing calibration records for laboratory instruments 2.


• Human testing also ran into trouble. The first patient had 85% of the device’s electrodes pull back from his brain, which led Neuralink to use software changes to recover performance 3.

Sovereign wealth funds are moving deeper into risky deep tech bets

• Oman Investment Authority’s backing of Neuralink fits a wider move by sovereign wealth funds to behave more like venture capital firms, with direct bets on risky foundational technologies to broaden national economies.


• Those investors are pursuing bigger gains, as reports put Neuralink’s valuation at about US$5 billion in 2023 and a US$9 billion pre-money valuation in a 2025 fundraising 4.


• The money can also boost credibility for controversial companies, which can ease public pressure while they pursue long-term aims beyond disease treatment, including human enhancement ideas such as web-surfing and telepathy 4.