Just when you thought that circular offers couldn’t be more circular, OpenAI invested in CEO Sam Altman’s startup Brain Computer Interface (BCI) Merge laboratories.
Merge Labs, which describes itself as a “research lab” dedicated to “connecting biological and artificial intelligence to maximize human capabilities,” came out of stealth on Thursday with an undisclosed seed round. A source close to the matter confirmed previous reports that OpenAI wrote the largest check of Merge Labs’ $250 million seed round, at a valuation of $850 million.
Investment firms Bain Capital, Interface Fund and Fifty Years also participated in the raise, alongside video game developer Gabe Newell. Seth Bannon, founding partner of Fifty Years, written the this fusion represents the culmination of the human effort to create tools that “extend us and our capabilities.”
“Our individual experience of the world arises from billions of active neurons,” reads a statement from Merge Labs. “If we can interface with these neurons at scale, we could restore lost capabilities, foster healthier brain states, deepen our connections with each other, and expand what we can imagine and create alongside advanced AI.” »
Merge Labs said it intends to achieve these feats non-invasively by developing “entirely new technologies that connect to neurons using molecules instead of electrodes” to “transit and receive information using deep modalities like ultrasound.”
The movement deepens Altman’s competition with Elon Musk, whose startup Neuralink also develops computer interface chips that allow people with severe paralysis to control devices with their thoughts. Neuralink currently requires invasive surgery for implantation, where a surgical robot removes a small piece of skull and inserts ultra-thin electrode wires into the brain to read neural signals. The company last raised a $650 million Series E at a valuation of $9 billion in June 2025.
While there are undoubtedly medical use cases for BCIs, Merge Labs seems more focused on using the technology to fulfill the Silicon Valley fantasy of combining human biology with AI to give us superhuman abilities.
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“Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) represent an important new frontier,” OpenAI wrote in a paper. blog post. “They open up new ways to communicate, learn, and interact with technology. BCIs will create a natural, human-centered way for everyone to seamlessly interact with AI. That’s why OpenAI is participating in the Merge Labs seed round.”
Besides Altman, other co-founders include Alex Blania (CEO) and Sandro Herbig (head of product and engineering) at Tools for Humanity, another Altman-backed company (and creator of the eye-scanning global orbs); Tyson Aflalo and Sumner Norman, co-founders of implantable neural technology company Forest Neurotech; and Mikhail Shapiro, a researcher at Caltech.
Blania and Herbig said separately social media posts that they would continue their roles at Tools for Humanity. Merge Labs would not confirm whether Alfalo and Norman would retain their positions at Forest Neurotech, saying only that the company would continue to operate and would have a “wonderful working relationship” with Merge. Shapiro plans to continue teaching at Caltech.
A spokesperson told TechCrunch that the co-founders are also members of the Merge Labs board of directors.
As part of the agreement, OpenAI will work with Merge Labs on scientific foundation models and other cutting-edge tools to “accelerate progress.” In its blog post, OpenAI noted that AI will not only help accelerate R&D in bioengineering, neuroscience, and device engineering, but interfaces will also benefit from AI operating systems that “can interpret intent, adapt to individuals, and operate reliably with limited and noisy signals.”
In other words, Merge Labs could function as a remote control for OpenAI software. This leads to the circular nature of the deal: if Merge Labs is successful, it could attract more users to OpenAI, which would then justify OpenAI’s investment in the company. It also increases the value of a startup Altman owns by using the resources of a company he runs.
OpenAI also works with Jony Ive’s io startupwhat he acquired last year, to produce AI hardware that doesn’t rely on a screen. Recent unconfirmed leaks suggest the device could be an earpiece.
OpenAI invests primarily through the OpenAI Startup Fund, which has invested in several other Altman-related startups, including Red Queen Bio, Rain AI, and Harvey. OpenAI also has commercial deals with startups that Altman owns or personally chairs, including nuclear fusion startup Helion Energy and nuclear fission company Oklo.
Altman has been dreaming of “fusion” – the idea that humans and machines will merge – since at least 2017, when he published a blog post he speculates that this would happen between 2025 and 2075. He also speculated that fusion could take many forms, including plugging electrons into our brains or becoming “very close friends with a chatbot.”
He said a merger is our “best case scenario” for humanity to survive in the face of superintelligence AI, which he described as a separate species in conflict with humans.
“Even though the merger has already begun, it is going to get much stranger,” Altman wrote. “We will be the first species to design our own descendants. I suppose we can either be the biological bootloader of digital intelligence and then merge into an evolutionary tree branch, or we can figure out what successful fusion looks like.”
TechCrunch has contacted OpenAI and Merge Labs for more information.
This article has been updated to confirm that the founders of Merge Labs will continue to work at their respective companies., and with more details on the other participants in the fund.