The neurotech market, like the human brain it hopes to decode, is a maddening puzzle. It’s equal parts ambition, mystery, and—some would say—delusion. For decades, the promise of technology that could mesh seamlessly with the mind was the stuff of fringe science. But today, the market has sharpened its focus, riding the wave of breakthroughs in machine learning and bioengineering. The idea is that, one day, brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) will let you think your way through a spreadsheet. Or allow paralyzed individuals to communicate by merely imagining words. That’s the kind of technological leap that has caught many an investor’s gaze. In this guide, we’ll examine the top neurotech stocks, ranked by their pure-play focus.
At its core, neurotech is about building a bridge between the biological and the digital. BCIs work by detecting electrical signals generated by the brain. They then interpret these signals through sophisticated algorithms. And finally, they translate them into commands that a machine can understand. Companies like Neuralink have even stated the lofty end goal of merging human cognition with artificial intelligence. But in the meantime, most companies in this space are focused on the near-term commercialization of medical use cases.
That said, at present, valuations often hinge more on PowerPoint promises than polished products. There’s a classic hype cycle at play: a captivating narrative paired with splashy demo videos—a mouse steering a cursor with its thoughts, a monkey playing Pong. There’s still a large gulf between the hope and the hard science, not to mention the hurdle of FDA approvals. Still, the allure is impossible to ignore. Neurotech is a sector that whispers of paradigm shifts, and to invest here is to dance along the fine line between miracle and mirage.
Note: We make every effort to keep our info accurate and up-to-date. However, emerging tech moves fast and company situations can change overnight. This guide is an intro to the neurotech market; but ultimately, do your own due diligence before taking action.
Tier 1: Pure-Play Neurotech Stocks
These are pure-play neurotech companies that derive (or plan to derive) a majority of their revenue from this space. Investors who want the full upside – and risk – can consider these neurotech stocks.
NeuroPace (NPCE)
NeuroPace (NPCE) offers a breakthrough implant that learns to stop seizures before they start, to be offered to epilepsy patients.
NeuroPace is a company born of a simple but monumental ambition: to intercept the electrical storms inside the human brain before they become hurricanes. Its primary offering, the RNS System, is a surgically implanted neurostimulator designed to treat refractory epilepsy. It’s a medtech marvel—a loop that closes itself, using machine learning algorithms to “predict” and then dampen abnormal electrical activity before a seizure takes hold.
NeuroPace has had a somewhat rocky road since going public in April 2021, with shares dropping from their early highs. The neurotech market is notoriously cash-intensive, and NeuroPace has been no exception. So, why is NeuroPace interesting as a neurotech stock? Because they’re not trying to treat epilepsy as we’ve conventionally thought about it—they’re hacking it. They’re part of this emerging mindset that treats the brain almost like a software problem.
The real opportunity for NeuroPace lies not only in making the RNS System a leading treatment for epilepsy, but in transforming it into a continuously evolving platform through data-driven insights. With each use, the RNS System gathers detailed information on an individual patient’s brain activity and seizure patterns, which allows the technology to progressively fine-tune its responses and become more effective over time. This creates a feedback loop that enhances the device’s predictive capabilities and therapeutic precision for each unique patient.
If NeuroPace can effectively leverage this wealth of personalized data, they could create a system that is not just a device but an adaptive treatment tailored to individual neurological profiles—an approach that would be extremely difficult for competitors to replicate. This kind of deeply integrated, personalized care model could set NeuroPace apart, turning the data from their technology into a proprietary moat.
NeuroOne Medical Technologies (NMTC)
NeuroOne (NMTC) develops next-gen electrodes for brain surgery, with hopes of becoming the go-to tool for hospitals.
NeuroOne operates at the intersection of minimally invasive tech and high-definition imaging. The company specializes in electrodes for recording, monitoring, and stimulating electrical activity in the brain. Unlike some of its competitors, NeuroOne has kept its focus largely on the foundational hardware.
Their flagship product, the Evo Electrode, is designed to be thinner, more flexible, and far more high-resolution than anything in the market, ideally suited for both diagnostic and potentially therapeutic purposes. It’s like a high-precision mapping technology that aims to eventually allow surgeons to navigate through the brain with more clarity and fewer collateral issues.
The game here for NeuroOne is scale and adoption. To understand NMTC, it helps to think about the simplicity and ubiquity of their potential market. They’re aiming to become the default choice for hospitals and neurosurgeons looking to map the brain. This applies to everything from epilepsy to Parkinson’s to spinal cord injuries. What makes them particularly interesting is their collaborative agreement with Zimmer Biomet, one of the giants in orthopedic and neurosurgical solutions. Zimmer isn’t in the habit of making bets on vaporware—they want hard products that integrate into existing workflows.
Financially, NeuroOne is an early-stage player, so it’s going to be a lot of red ink for a while. This is a company that’s still in the “proof of concept” phase as much as it’s in product iteration. Based on their tiny market cap, it’s hard not to view their stock as a kind of high-risk, high-reward lottery ticket. But if they gain FDA approval for additional indications, or if Zimmer Biomet sees sufficient promise in the Evo system, the leap from niche hardware to standard medical equipment could be monumental.
Neuronetics (STIM)
Neuronetics (STIM) is expanding access to noninvasive depression treatment, aiming to make it as common as a doctor’s visit.
Neuronetics specializes in transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to treat Major Depressive Disorder. The narrative here is about taking a well-validated, FDA-approved technology and bringing it to the mass market, effectively trying to make TMS something as routine as a dentist’s visit.
Their product, the NeuroStar Advanced Therapy System, is a large, chair-like device that stimulates nerve cells in the brain with noninvasive magnetic pulses. It essentially “rewrites” malfunctioning circuits associated with depression. This is not a speculative technology; the FDA nod and a growing network of clinics show that this works. And with the global mental health crisis swelling, they’re well-positioned to address it. It’s one of those rare cases in neurotech where demand is clear, and the bottleneck is actually reaching the patients.
From a market perspective, Neuronetics is fighting both stigma and accessibility. TMS is not as well-known as pharmaceuticals, and it’s often treated as a “last resort” for patients. That’s a marketing problem, and they’re pushing against it by trying to grow a network of providers who can deploy TMS more widely. If NeuroStar can become more universally covered by insurers—and marketed more aggressively as a legitimate first-line or at least second-line treatment—it will see significant upside.
Neuronetics’ ability to succeed hinges on two things: reimbursement and awareness.The technology itself isn’t new, but their value proposition is in getting insurers, physicians, and patients to see the cost-effectiveness of fewer drugs, fewer side effects, and fewer office visits. Among neurotech stocks, the great irony is that while Neuronetics probably has the least “new” technology, they might have the clearest pathway to scaling.
Tier 2: Medical Device Makers with Neurotech Products
These are established medical device companies with growing neurotech divisions. Investors who want a more balanced approach can consider these neurotech stocks.
Medtronic plc (MDT)
Medtronic (MDT) is the world’s largest medical device maker, and has ties to neurotech via their Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) systems.
Medtronic, the world’s largest medical device maker by revenue, has been investing quietly and steadily in neurotech. Medtronic’s Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) systems are at the center of this push. But the company’s not new to the game: they’ve been doing DBS since the late 1990s, helping patients with Parkinson’s disease manage their symptoms through direct, electrical precision.
Medtronic’s Percept PC DBS system, approved by the FDA in 2020, was a major advancement because it was the first to include BrainSense technology. This means it can track brain activity in real-time while helping to control symptoms. This feature helps doctors adjust the treatment more effectively and also allows Medtronic to gather data that can be used for developing future treatments tailored to individual needs.
Medtronic’s Neuroscience portfolio contributes to around 28% of the company’s total revenue. While DBS is a smaller slice, the growth potential lies in the increasing recognition of DBS for mood disorders, beyond the traditional motor disease applications.
Abbott Laboratories (ABT)
Abbott Laboratories (ABT) aims to treat chronic pain through its flagship spinal cord stimulation (SCS) system.
Abbott Laboratories—better known for its market-leading diagnostics and cardiac devices—has quietly started staking a claim in the neurotech territory. Their flagship neurotech product is its Proclaim XR spinal cord stimulation (SCS) system, used to treat chronic pain. Chronic pain might not have the mystique of reading a person’s thoughts, but make no mistake—pain management is a multi-billion-dollar industry.
Abbott’s Proclaim system is distinct because it comes paired with an Apple-like ecosystem—the patient can manage their treatment with an iOS app. This isn’t just clever branding; it makes patient compliance higher and eases the burden on doctors. Abbott’s approach is a bet that usability and patient experience will be just as important as clinical efficacy. It’s part medical device, part consumer product, and all about making nerve modulation not just effective but easy. More recently, Abbott has also started applying its technology to treat movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease, pitting it head-to-head with Medtronic.
Boston Scientific Corporation (BSX)
Boston Scientific (BSX) is agile enough to pursue emerging neurotech applications like cognitive decline and depression.
Boston Scientific’s foothold in neurotech revolves primarily around its spinal cord stimulation (SCS) and deep brain stimulation (DBS) systems. Boston Scientific’s SCS system, the WaveWriter Alpha, is a device built on personalization. They use multiple waveforms, frequencies, and programming options to ensure that patients have a customized path to pain relief. The device’s selling point is versatility—not unlike having a Swiss Army knife for your nerves, with options for every conceivable need.
The company’s DBS system, Vercise Genus, is another impressive entrant in the market, notable for its precision—a multi-source, constant-current device that allows for tailored neural targeting. They’re focused on getting it just right, recognizing that one person’s tremor is another person’s cage, and the way out has to be personalized.
Where Boston Scientific excels is in its speed and adaptability. The company is expanding into emerging applications such as addressing cognitive decline and depression. Boston Scientific is making bets on areas where neurotech may have untapped potential, particularly as new clinical data supports neuromodulation for conditions that were previously considered outside the realm of electrical therapy.
Tier 3: Tech Giants with Neurotech Pursuits
These established giants are not neurotech stocks per se, but have expressed ambitions to pursue neurotech. They offer more stable investment options, but much less exposure to neurotech.
Alphabet (GOOG)
Alphabet (GOOG) has multiple neurotech related projects and moonshots, such as its health tech subsidiary Verily.
When people think of Alphabet, they think of search engines, autonomous vehicles, and the ads that somehow know we need a new couch before we do. But here’s the thing: Alphabet is so big that they could drop a billion dollars on a moonshot and not flinch. And that’s precisely what they’ve done with their stealth play in neurotechnology.
Alphabet, through its health tech subsidiary Verily and its “Other Bets,” has been positioning itself at the nerve center—literally and figuratively—of neurotech. Verily, while focused broadly on health, is developing tools that edge into neurotech territory, such as wearable sensors and platforms for studying neurological disorders. The company has partnered with pharmaceutical giants like GSK, with initiatives that could allow them to provide the data layer—a Google Maps for the human brain—to players in biotech who are hungry for precision neurology.
Another key Alphabet project is the Neural Data Science initiative—essentially, the use of advanced machine learning to understand complex neural signals. The endgame for Alphabet here isn’t purely altruistic; it’s a market opportunity with potentially trillion-dollar outcomes. Consider this: a future where a brain-machine interface allows users to interact with technology through thought alone. Google Glass failed as a piece of hardware but could be reborn as a thought-controlled wearable—a far more seamless iteration of the vision Alphabet had a decade ago.
Meta Platforms (META)
Meta (META) is most known for Facebook and Instagram, but has entered the neurotech space with its acquisition of CTRL-labs.
In 2019, Meta acquired CTRL-labs, a New York-based neurotech startup. CTRL-labs developed a bracelet capable of interpreting electrical signals from muscle neurons and turning them into digital commands. That might sound less sci-fi than a full brain-machine interface, but it’s a pragmatic, near-term step toward giving people control over digital interfaces in a way that feels almost telepathic. The underlying play is simple but profound: if Meta wants to build the metaverse, it needs to own the way users interact with it.
Consider what Meta is really doing here. They are taking a page from Apple’s playbook. Just as the iPhone gave rise to an entire ecosystem where Apple could control the hardware, software, and content, Meta is building the neural equivalent of iOS. A wearable that controls VR and AR systems could ultimately evolve into a brain-machine interface that lets you think your way through the metaverse, hands-free. It’s not hard to imagine why Meta’s spending more than $10 billion annually on Reality Labs, the division working on VR, AR, and neurotech. The future of Meta’s empire hinges on whether or not they can create a seamless, almost invisible bridge between human intention and digital action.
Of course, Meta’s neurotech endeavor is also fraught with risk. The hardware business isn’t easy; it’s capital intensive, and the company’s track record in this arena is mixed at best. The Portal, Meta’s smart camera, was shuttered in 2022, and the Quest VR headsets have not yet achieved mainstream adoption. A neural wristband might succeed where VR goggles have faltered—or it could join the growing list of Meta’s expensive hardware missteps.
Private Neurotech Companies to Watch
These companies are not publicly traded (yet). But some of their innovations are noteworthy enough for investors to start paying attention to them sooner, rather than later. These are the private neurotech companies to watch, ordered in alphabetical order.
- Blackrock Neurotech: Leader in brain-computer interfaces for medical research and advanced neurological therapies.
- Kernel: Creates non-invasive brain-computer interfaces for everyday use in communication and entertainment.
- Neuralink: Develops high-bandwidth brain implants for medical restoration with a long-term vision of human-computer symbiosis.
- Paradromics: Works on high-bandwidth brain implants specifically designed to restore movement and communication abilities.
- Synchron: Develops brain-computer interfaces to help paralysis patients control digital devices with their mind.