Blackrock Neurotech, a Salt Lake City-based implantable brain-computer interface (BCI) technology company, has acquired MindX of Bethesda, Maryland. MindX is the developer of the MindOS software platform, that utilizes brain-computer interfaces for spatial computing applications in medical devices and consumer electronics. Blackrock intends to integrate MindX’s augmented reality and artificial intelligence technology with Blackrock’s BCI hardware.
Blackrock is backed by investors Peter Thiel and Christian Angermeyer. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
MindX was founded in 2017 by serial health-tech entrepreneur Julia Brown and Catalio Capital Management, a life sciences investment firm.
Blackrock said in a release that the acquisition bolsters its existing software portfolio and positions the company to deliver full-stack, integrated BCI products with innovative capabilities. The move comes on the heels of Blackrock’s neural decoder licensing deals with Stanford University and Columbia University.
As part of the acquisition, Brown, MindX founder and CEO, and her team will join Blackrock. Brown brings an extensive background in intelligent system design, neurotechnology and the development of personalized medicine and digital health solutions, as well as her startup experience, which includes launching a series of successful health-tech ventures spun out of Johns Hopkins University.
“MindX is home to fantastic engineers who are developing groundbreaking, cutting-edge software at the intersection of neurotechnology, AR and AI, and we are particularly pleased to partner in a deeper way with Julia Brown, who has been an insightful innovator and leader in this space,” said Marcus Gerhardt, Blackrock co-founder and CEO. “By fusing our hardware DNA with their software DNA, we enhance our neural data analysis and enable flexibility and customization for a variety of BCI applications. Furthermore, the opportunity to broaden applications through spatial software and AR exponentially advances our commercialization aims.”
“Blackrock is the company advancing most rapidly toward making this technology commercially available to patients and doing so in a way that aligns with our values in neuroethics and our vision for the potential of BCI,” said Brown. “I can’t think of a better way to get this technology into the hands of patients who need it than by bringing two talented teams together and melding Blackrock hardware with MindX software capabilities.”