The newest Silicon Valley billionaire to enter the brain-health space is Fred Ehrsam, co-founder of Coinbase Global Inc. His company has hired at least eight former employees of Elon Musk’s Neuralink.
With the push of a button, Ehrsam’s Nudge firm plans to create a consumer headset-like product that uses ultrasound technology to heal brain disorders, elevate mood, and aid in sleep, in contrast to Musk’s startup, which implants a chip in the brain.
According to scientists, there are still many unanswered concerns regarding the company’s strategy and the underlying science. Ehrsam may be as likely to succeed as anybody else, though, given his wealth and his accomplishments in creating Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges.
According to Julia Prakapovich, managing partner at Interface Fund, which has made investments in other brain technology businesses but not Nudge, “he’s probably one of the best in the market with the consumer expertise.”
According to their LinkedIn profiles, Ehrsam, 37, has brought together a team of at least 20 workers, including Jeremy Barenholtz, a co-founder and former product chief of Neuralink. As per the mayor’s calendar, he recently met with San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, who toured their lab. Meanwhile, Nudge staff members have been enlisting patients from a nearby chronic pain support group for the study.
Low-intensity focused ultrasound is the technique that Nudge is employing to give energy pulses to specific brain regions linked to specific illnesses. The energy is supposed to cure the illness by massaging the brain tissue. It is desirable that the ultrasound can be transmitted from outside the head since it eliminates the need for invasive surgery.
Speaking to Ehrsam last year, Ali Rezai, a neurosurgeon and professor who oversees West Virginia University’s neuroscience institute, stated that the field isn’t ready for prime time. This is an area where they still have a lot of study to complete.
Long a major contributor to the advancement of science, the wealthy have recently shifted their attention to the mind. Billionaires have recently invested in brain-related firms, including CEO Eric Schmidt of Google, co-founder Bill Gates of Microsoft Corp., founder Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com Inc., and Ken Griffin of Citadel.
Whether Ehrsam has raised any outside funds or how it is financing Nudge is unknown. In April of last year, he wrote a blog post outlining the company’s original vision and incorporated it.
According to the report, Ehrsam is worth at least $3.2 billion. This figure does not include any unreported cryptocurrency holdings, but does account for his investments in Coinbase and Paradigm, a venture firm with a focus on cryptocurrency.
Ehrsam and the other co-founders were not reachable, and Nudge did not reply to several requests for comment.
Possessing Potential
For almost 10 years, the Focused Ultrasound Foundation has reported that hundreds of patients have received low-intensity focused ultrasound treatments in research studies using large devices in clinics rather than take-home helmets. The US Food and Drug Administration has not authorized any low-intensity focused ultrasound devices, according to the foundation.
According to research papers and discussions with doctors, the technology has showed promise for a number of common ailments, including tremors, anxiety, depression, pain, and epilepsy. Patients with serious brain injury have also shown signs of improvement following treatments.
As of right now, the Focused Ultrasound Foundation reports that at least 20 businesses are developing devices. Large medical device companies sell various kinds of brain stimulators, such as those used to treat Parkinson’s disease, but these require surgery and rely on other technologies.
“We’re still trying to figure it out,” said Martin Monti, a neurosurgeon and psychology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has been using focused ultrasound to treat patients for almost a decade. To what extent is it simple to transform that into this tiny headset? It could be completely possible. That would be fantastic.
In San Francisco, Nudge is doing a study on chronic pain, and its website states that it will shortly start a study on substance dependence. According to the website, the research is examining the effects of ultrasound stimulation on brain activity rather than focusing on particular therapies or wireless headsets. Neither study is clinical.
Brain Science
PitchBook data indicates that Ehrsam’s interest in brain science dates at least to 2021, when he made an investment in Neuralink. In April, a Nudge employee posted on social media that the $9 billion company, managed by Musk, is “complementary” rather than a rival.
In October 2023, Ehrsam left Paradigm, stating that the move would enable him “to carve out some time to explore areas of science that are of personal passion for me.”
Additionally, Bloomberg News examined documents from the Prometheus Summit, an invitation-only gathering he sponsored in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, last October where founders and scientists discussed future technology, including brain gadgets.
Records also show that last October, he held the Prometheus Summit, an invitation-only gathering in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where entrepreneurs and scientists discussed future technology, including brain devices.
In a LinkedIn article, Ehrsam said he urged his guests to talk about the technology’s potential over dinner. One of the recommended questions is: “We’re 10 years in the future and your project/research has worked beyond your wildest dreams. What does that look like?”
