BrainTech Alliance Launch - Interviews from founding members
Inside the minds shaping the future of BrainTech
On the occasion of the official launch of the BrainTech Alliance, co-hosted by Newfund Heka and Nexus NeuroTech Ventures, we brought together an exclusive group of scientists, investors, and founders to kick off a new era of collaboration in brain health innovation.
From researchers to Venture Capitalists, from cutting-edge neurotech startups to leading VCs, our founding members share a bold vision: to harness technology and collective expertise to tackle some of the most pressing challenges in mental and neurological health.
In this article, we’ve captured their first insights, motivations, and hopes for what this alliance can achieve, in their own words.
Interviews of the Founders of the BrainTech Alliance
Dr Erin Gibson - Stanford University
“We don't know that much about it: for as much time and money as we have put into studying the brain, we have more questions than we do have answers. And I think one of the gaps in our ability to sort of further those answers, is engaging with technology and bringing technology into these questions in a sort of back and forth feedback.”
Ryan Wang, Outpost Capital
“As an investor, I want to be on the frontier of this revolution and keep my visibility on what's happening. I have a small stake in Neuralink and a few BCI companies as well. So I think the future is super interesting and I just want to keep the information updated and keep myself sharp in this domain.”
BrainTech Alliance - Dr William J. Marks, Nexus NeuroTech Ventures
“It's so fun to get such a mixture of people: investors, company founders, academics, all partnering together, thinking how they can work together. We just started recently, but we're excited that there is a community of like-minded people who care about having a positive impact for people with various brain disorders through technology. And the BrainTech Alliance is a great way to further fortify those efforts.”
BrainTech Alliance - Dr Avery Krieger, Constellation
“I'm really excited about the BrainTech Alliance, and neurological technology in general, because I think we're at this precipice where the technological development, the computational capacity, the modeling is putting us this confluence of essentially all the tools that we need to start tackling what I see as the hardest problems that mankind has ever faced. And I think we have the talent and the inspiration and the access now to leverage all these different tools to actually make headway on these really sticky problems like mental and neurological health. So I think we're just at the perfect time to actually make headway and I'm excited to be part of that.”
BrainTech Alliance - Michael Jin, Foothill Ventures
“We believe that today is right time to focus on neuroscience and BrainTech has been a very difficult field, but I believe that with AI, DeepTech, and many enabling tools, it is possible make the return much better. But someone had to lead it, so we want to be part of it and work with Newfund and Nexus NeuroTech and get it happen.”
What stood out in these conversations wasn’t hype or grand ambition: it was focus. The BrainTech Alliance exists to make that work easier, faster, and more connected. That’s it.
The BrainTech Alliance was founded by Newfund HEKA, the first European fund exclusively dedicated to BrainTech launched, and Nexus NeuroTech Ventures, an American VC and incubation platform specializing in neurotechnologies.
In 2025, Newfund has assets under management of more than €400 million and invests in over 120 startups, with Newfund HEKA investing specifically in innovations in neurodiagnostics, neurosurgery and neuro-rehabilitation.
Nexus NeuroTech Ventures supports early stage start-ups specializing in neurotechnologies, including brain-machine interfaces and digital mental health solutions. Founded in 2023, Nexus NeuroTech invested in MedTech such as Rune Labs and Cala Health.