Coherence neuro raised $45 million for an experimental implant designed to detect and electrically stimulate brain tumors, with the OpenAI Startup Fund and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund for the round. The target disease is glioblastomaone of the most aggressive brain cancers known to medicine.
What SOMA actually does
An implant that listens and talks to tumors, at least in theory.
Those SOMA device is designed to record electrical signals with a tumor and deliver targeted electrical stimulation intended to disrupt tumor growth. It pairs with a detachable over-ear wearable and an app for real-time data, symptom tracking, and therapy history.
Coherence says its AI models, trained on animal study recordings, can predict whether a tumor will grow, shrink or recur. This claim has not been validated in large human studies.
Coherence describes the increase as series A; WIRED characterized it as a seed round. Other participants include Lux Capital, 8VC, and Neuralink chief neurosurgeon Matthew MacDougall, among others.
Where science actually stands
Three patients, about thirty minutes of tests during the operation, and a long way to chronic implantation.
According to WIRED’s report, Coherence recently had its recording implant three patients during tumor removal surgery at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, with the device remaining in place for approximately 30 minutes before removal. WIRED also reports that enrollment and stimulation testing has been conducted or planned in an additional seven patients, although completion of all seven has not been confirmed.
Electric field therapy is already FDA approved for glioblastoma, but this approval covers existing technologies and does not establish the safety or effectiveness of SOMA. Coherence plans to pursue its first chronic human trial and seek FDA breakthrough-device designation; neither milestone has been reached.
Co-founder Ben Woodington described “growing synergy” between major AI laboratories and companies that decode brain activity, according to WIRED. Investor enthusiasm is not a clinical outcome, however.
The wide field
OpenAI is placing several bets on brain-computer interfaces.
OpenAI also supported fusion labswhich develops non-implantable brain-computer interface technology. Founders Fund has investments in both Coherence and Neuralink, while Synchron represents a less invasive approach in the same broad category.
Coherence plans to pursue a chronic implant trial and FDA breakthrough device designation with the new funding. Until these efforts produce data, SOMA remains an experimental platform with serious supporters and an unproven path.