Synchron buys into German precision manufacturer

Australian/US brain-computer interface company Synchron has announced that it has taken an equity stake in Germany-based ACQUANDAS, a manufacturer of precision components for healthcare and other industries.

No details were given about the size of the stake, but the company said its investment “strengthens our technology innovation and supply chain for our unique product offerings, beginning with brain-computer interfaces”.

In a short statement on Thursday (US time) Synchron said its CEO and founder Dr Tom Oxley will join the ACQUANDAS Governance Council and Synchron’s CTO Riki Banerjee will join as Observer.

The New York-headquartered Synchron was founded in Melbourne in 2016. It is based on the Stentrode neuroprosthesis device, a paperclip-sized electrode array implanted into a blood vessel in a patient’s brain, conceived by Oxley while at the University of Melbourne.

Its device aims to restore mobility to paralysed patients by interpreting brain signals.

“As we pioneer functional endovascular neurotechnology, this investment strengthens our technology innovation and supply chain for our unique product offerings, beginning with brain-computer interfaces,” said Oxley in the statement.

CEO and founder of ACQUANDAS, Dr Rodrigo Lima de Miranda, said the undisclosed investment “serves as a testament to the readiness of our fabrication technology and our company for the market”. 

According to the statement, the German company has pioneered “shape-memory, flexible metallic components” suitable for medical device use. 

ACQUANDAS’s ability to manufacture miniaturised structures, “such as micro-patterned Nitinol thin films, combined with high structure resolution and geometrical complexity, excellent biocompatibility and improved mechanical properties, provides Synchron with a unique product offering in the implantable medical device industry.”

News of the investment follows an announcement by entrepreneur Elon Musk, who co-founded neurotechnology business Neuralink, claiming that the company has implanted its first chip in a patient’s brain.

Picture: supplied

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