Coherence Neuro

Coherence Neuro (San Francisco) is developing an implant intended to detect and treat brain tumors. The company describes its goal as building tools to “watch” cancer in real time and feeding that data into closed-loop algorithms - what it calls the first electrical biomarkers of cancer (company statement). Wired reported the round and the program on Oct 21, 2026, naming CEO and cofounder Ben Woodington.

Funding (reported)

• $45 million round, reported by Wired on Oct 21, 2026: co-led by the OpenAI Startup Fund and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund. A portfolio-company post also names Lux Capital and 8VC as participants. Wired calls the round a seed; the investor post calls it a Series A. Treat the amount and stage as reported, not company-audited.
• Wired: ⁰¹
• Investor post: ⁰²

First human recordings (reported)

Between late May and late June 2026, three people undergoing brain-tumor removal at the Royal Melbourne Hospital had a thin, flexible electrode film laid on the brain surface for about half an hour during surgery; it recorded electrical activity around the tumor and was then removed. This was intraoperative recording only, not a chronic implant. Reporting: ⁰³

Per the same coverage, the company plans a longer-term trial in glioblastoma patients with a device left implanted; the device is described as intended to be placed during routine tumor-removal surgery.

What to watch

• Whether intraoperative recordings produce published evidence of tumor-specific electrical signatures
• Regulatory path and timing of the planned chronic-implant glioblastoma trial
• What “treat” means in practice: stimulation parameters, efficacy endpoints and safety data are not yet public