Snap has announced that it has acquired NextMind, a Paris-based neural technology startup responsible for developing a headband that allows users to control aspects of a computer—such as aiming a gun in a video game or unlocking an iPad screen—using their thoughts. NextMind has joined Snap to help advance long-term augmented reality research efforts within Snap Lab. Meta, Apple, and a number of other tech companies are building augmented reality glasses with displays that integrate computing into the world around you. The idea is that such products could one day be useful in a way similar to how smartphones changed what computers could do. However, the challenge lies in how to control these smart glasses equipped with screens that cannot be touched and do not have a mouse or keyboard. The industry still needs to solve this significant problem. There is increasing consensus that some form of brain-computer interface may be the solution. Snap aims to integrate NextMind's technology into future versions of its augmented reality Spectacles. This technology monitors neural activity to understand user intent when interacting with a computing interface, allowing users to press a virtual button by simply focusing on it. This technology does not read thoughts or send any signals to the brain.
Snap wants to incorporate the technology into its future glasses. The production of NextMind's first product, a $400 developer headband released two years ago, has been halted. About 20 employees from the company will move to work for Snap Lab, the hardware group responsible for Spectacles, the upcoming drone, and other yet-to-be-released smart tools. The startup has raised approximately $4.5 million in funding to date, with its last valuation being around $13 million. Snap's acquisition of NextMind is the latest in a series of hardware-related deals, including its acquisition of WaveOptics for augmented reality displays last year for $500 million. In January, it also purchased another display technology company called Compound Photonics.
It is noteworthy that Snap is not the only major tech player interested in brain-computer interfaces. Neuralink, founded by Elon Musk, is implanting a device in the human brain and preparing for clinical trials. Valve is also working on an open-source brain interface project called OpenBCI. Before rebranding to Meta, Facebook showed broader interest in the field by acquiring CTRL-Labs for $1 billion. The NextMind headband uses sensors to measure brain activity with the help of machine learning. In a 2020 interview, the company’s founder and CEO said: "We use your attention as a controller. Consequently, when you focus differently on something, you then generate an intention to act. We do not decode the intention itself, but we decode the outcome of the intention."
