Bridge Neurotech has launched with $13.5 million in reported funding and is developing a wearable, non-invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) that uses ultrasound. The proposed device is not available to buy, and its first reported study is observational—not a treatment or a test of clinical benefit. Bridge is often framed as a rival to Sam Altman-backed Merge Labs, but the available reporting establishes overlapping roots and competing ambitions, not a head-to-head product contest.
What Bridge Neurotech is building
Bridge says it is developing a wearable BCI that uses ultrasound to detect brain activity without implanting electrodes. The company has not released images of the device. Founder and CEO Will Biederman told WIRED that he envisions “something close to headphones,” positioned at the temporal window slightly above the ear because “it’s the easiest place to image through.” That is a description of the intended form factor, not a finished product specification.
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Bridge’s initial technical focus, according to Biederman, is developing transcranial sensing techniques and making the resulting data useful. The company’s website describes its approach as ultrasound-based and says its first research study is enrolling in Redwood City, California: Bridge Neurotech.
How ultrasound could read brain activity
Ultrasound can detect echoes from moving red blood cells and thereby measure blood flow. Because blood flow changes in the brain are associated with neural activity, a system can use those changes as an indirect signal of what the brain is doing. It does not directly record neurons’ electrical impulses.
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That indirect measurement comes with a timing trade-off. Neuroengineer Maryam Shanechi of the University of Southern California told WIRED that a natural delay of a few seconds separates neural firing from the subsequent changes in blood flow and volume. “It captures a slower variation in neural activity,” she said. “That’s fine for a lot of applications, but it depends what you want to build.” The estimate describes an approximate physiological delay, not a benchmark measured on a Bridge device.
Bridge plans to use predictive AI models to reduce the practical effect of the lag, WIRED reported, but the company has not published results showing that this works. A signal that reflects brain activity only after a delay may be less suited to tasks requiring immediate feedback, such as rapid typing or instantly controlling a robotic limb.
What Bridge’s first study will—and will not—show
WIRED reported that Bridge is beginning an observational volunteer study in Redwood City. Participants are asked to listen, watch, move and speak while a small probe is placed at the side of the head. The group includes healthy adults and people who have undergone skull surgery. There are no treatments or diagnoses involved, so the study should not be described as a therapeutic trial or evidence that the technology is clinically effective.
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WIRED also reported that Bridge’s probes use semiconductor silicon chips made by Butterfly Network. That component detail does not mean the system is a consumer ultrasound product: the probe is part of Bridge’s research work. The company’s website lists the first study as enrolling, but recruitment and study details can change.
The skull is a central technical obstacle
Placing a probe near the temporal window may offer a route for ultrasound, but it does not remove the challenge of transmitting a useful signal through bone. The temporal window is a relatively thin part of the skull; even so, bone scatters and absorbs ultrasound.
As WIRED noted, a 2024 ultrasound BCI demonstration by researchers at Caltech and USC required part of the skull to be removed and replaced with an acoustic window. That work shows one way researchers have addressed the barrier; it does not establish that Bridge has solved non-invasive transmission through an intact skull. Bridge has not released device images or reported results that settle this question.
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Why Bridge is being compared with Merge Labs
WIRED describes Bridge as a competitor to Sam Altman-backed Merge Labs in the effort to develop an ultrasound-powered BCI. The companies also share an institutional connection: Biederman, along with researchers Sumner Norman and Tyson Aflalo, founded Forest Neurotech, which was later renamed Arbor Neuroscience. WIRED reported that Merge Labs spun out of Forest Neurotech in January; Norman and Aflalo are among Merge’s cofounders, alongside Altman, Mikhail Shapiro, Alex Blania and Sandro Herbig.
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The available reporting does not provide equivalent device specifications, study outcomes or performance measures for both companies. A useful comparison is therefore limited to what has been disclosed:
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| Topic | Bridge Neurotech | Merge Labs |
|---|---|---|
| Connection to Forest/Arbor Neurotech | Founded by Will Biederman with Sumner Norman and Tyson Aflalo, according to WIRED. | WIRED reports that Merge spun out of Forest Neurotech; Norman and Aflalo are cofounders. |
| Stated approach | Developing a wearable, non-invasive ultrasound BCI. | WIRED frames Merge as pursuing an ultrasound-powered BCI; equivalent technical specifications are not stated. |
| Form factor and stage | Intended to be close to headphones and positioned above the ear; still under development, with no device images released. | Not stated in the WIRED report. |
| Study status | Observational volunteer study reported as enrolling in Redwood City. | Not stated in the WIRED report. |
| Comparable performance results | Not stated in the WIRED report. | Not stated in the WIRED report. |
These disclosures support describing the companies as pursuing related ideas from overlapping roots. They do not support ranking one company’s technology over the other’s or claiming a demonstrated product contest.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What is established—and what remains open
- Established: Bridge launched with $13.5 million in funding, including support from General Catalyst, as reported by WIRED on October 6, 2026.
- Established: The company is developing an ultrasound BCI, and its first reported research study is observational and enrolling in Redwood City.
- Not established: That a finished wearable is available, that it can reliably image through an intact skull, or that predictive AI has overcome the signal’s delay.
- Not established: Clinical benefit, diagnostic capability, or evidence that Bridge’s system outperforms Merge Labs.
WIRED also reported that only “100 or so people around the world” had received implanted BCIs as part of clinical trials by 2026, including at least 21 Neuralink volunteers. Those are figures reported by WIRED, not independently verified here, and they describe implanted BCI trials rather than Bridge’s non-invasive research.
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