Sam Altman-Backed Merge Labs & Butterfly Network Partner to Advance Ultrasound-Based Brain-Computer Interfaces

Merge Labs will gain access to Butterfly’s Poseidon family of ultrasound-on-chip technology through Butterfly Embedded

US-based medtech company Butterfly Network and Merge Labs have announced a multi-year licensing agreement to develop ultrasound-based brain-computer interfaces.

Under the agreement, Merge Labs will gain acess Butterfly's Poseidon family of ultrasound-on-chip technology through Butterfly Embedded, the company's licensing and co-development business.

Butterfly will serve as Merge's exclusive chip-based ultrasound partner, providing a foundation for Merge to develop its own personalised neural interface technologies and systems while retaining the right to license its technology to other companies in the brain-computer interface (BCI) field.

The multi-year agreement includes upfront and milestone-based license payments, hardware purchase commitments, and technology access fees to Butterfly, with ongoing royalties expected on future commercial sales.

Merge, cofounded by Aflalo, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Alex Blania, Sandro Herbig, Sumner Norman, and Mikhail Shapiro, launched in January with $252 million in seed funding from investors including OpenAI, Bain Capital, Interface Fund, Fifty Years, and Gabe Newell.

The research lab is developing brain-computer interfaces designed to connect with neurons using molecules rather than electrodes.

It aims to explore deep-reaching modalities such as ultrasound for communication with the brain.

Merge Labs stated that the initiative seeks to develop neural-interface technologies that could eventually help restore abilities affected by injury or disease.

Commenting on the new initiative, Tyson Aflalo, Co-Founder, Merge Labs, said, “We believe ultrasound has tremendous potential to enable a new generation of neural interfaces. Our goal is to take the fastest and safest path to building the best technology possible, while enabling valuable R&D on downstream applications along the way. Butterfly has built a semiconductor-based ultrasound platform with the performance, flexibility, and commitment to innovation that can help us move quickly toward that goal.”

The latest agreement follows Butterfly's previous work in brain-computer interfaces. In 2023, the company entered a five-year collaboration with Forest Neurotech to develop a whole-brain neural interface that could use ultrasound to image and stimulate the brain.

Butterfly has also been expanding applications for its ultrasound-on-chip technology beyond handheld clinical imaging.

In June, Midjourney Medical announced plans to incorporate Butterfly’s ultrasound-on-chip technology into a full-body imaging system that uses sound waves and water to generate three-dimensional images.

Joseph DeVivo, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of Butterfly Network, said, “We’re pleased to partner with Merge Labs and proud that they have selected Butterfly as their exclusive platform for research and development. We are committed to supporting their team as they advance this work from research toward commercialization.”

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