Merge Labs San Francisco Bay Area
Research-stage public benefit corporation developing biological, molecular and ultrasound-based brain-computer interfaces. Publicly introduced January 2026; $252M seed financing confirmed by its partner. Distinct from the API-integration company Merge.
Founded 2025
$252M 2026-01-15 Bain Capital , OpenAI , Interface Fund , Julia Prakapovich , Fifty Years , Seth Bannon , Gabe Newell , Interface Capital , Sequoia Scout Fund , OpenAI , Day One Ventures $— Unknown date Anti Fund
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team@apexlogos.ai · 4 hours ago
BCI research snapshot, reviewed 2026-10-06. Company identity: MergeLabs. This is the pre-import evidence dossier; historical statements about database absence or review are archival. Unverified claims remain research leads, not validated facts.
Part 1/1
# Merge Labs
Research date: **2026-10-06**. Review material only; no adex data was modified. All linked sources and HTML image references were accessed on this date.
## Identity and operating status
Private **public benefit corporation**, pursuing biological/molecular and ultrasound-based brain-computer interfaces. Public company introduction dated **2026-01-15**; legal incorporation date and corporate HQ not independently verified here, so pasted San Francisco and founding-2025 descriptions remain provisional. [Official introduction](https://www.merge.io/blog ); [OpenAI investment announcement](https://openai.com/index/investing-in-merge-labs/ )
Research-stage technology: company/partner documents discuss ultrasound and molecular approaches, not an approved commercial implant. Operating status supported by public launch and September 2026 Butterfly partnership.
## Audit of pasted BCI.INTEL entry
| Pasted claim | Assessment |
|---|---|
| San Francisco HQ | Provisional; obtain legal/company address before importing HQ. |
| Sam Altman co-founder | Confirmed; not evidence he is CEO. |
| Alex Blania CEO/co-founder | Co-founder confirmed. CEO title not confirmed by examined company introduction. His CEO role at Tools for Humanity belongs to another entity. |
| $252M | Confirmed as seed raise by 2026 partner announcement. |
| Active | Supported by official research introduction and partner transaction. |
## Company profile image
Direct company favicon fallback: [ICO](https://www.merge.io/favicon.ico ) from live official `<link rel="icon">`; limited resolution and not a clean high-resolution company avatar. Brand on examined company page is inline vector markup with no separately verified full-size logo URL. Do not confuse unrelated API-company Merge logo.
## Founders and public team
| Person | Role / relationship | Profile and role evidence | Direct profile image URL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sam Altman | Co-founder | [Role/profile source](https://openai.com/index/investing-in-merge-labs/ ); [personal site](https://blog.samaltman.com/ ) | Remote portrait unresolved; existing adex Person `SamAltman` has local image URL `/static/sam-altman.jpg`, available at `/home/exedev/adex/static/sam-altman.jpg`. Reuse only after checking that existing asset. |
| Alex Blania | Co-founder; pasted CEO role not independently established | [Merge introduction](https://www.merge.io/blog ); [self-maintained profile](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-blania-b8444aa0 ) | [PFP](https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/v2/D4D03AQEw1qFNDbH8Yg/profile-displayphoto-scale_200_200/B4DZntO_2RJcAc-/0/1760621756428?e=2147483647&v=beta&t=Ai1PF7iDrfWVVoKOXMLiDlNzJD1pne0zst6cLxX1S3M ) |
| Sandro Herbig | Co-founder | [Merge introduction](https://www.merge.io/blog ); [self-maintained profile](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandro-herbig-bb2700186 ) | [PFP](https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/v2/D5603AQFKkPCg5LMEnA/profile-displayphoto-scale_200_200/B56ZvErc.ZHsAc-/0/1768531285015?e=2147483647&v=beta&t=ozd4TpAIUzQ42sb4lszQAxhbsMgj1UBTfZ7or7ie1O0 ) |
| Tyson Aflalo | Co-founder | [Role/profile source](https://www.merge.io/blog ) | Unavailable; examined cited official/institutional profile; no named portrait URL verified |
| Sumner Norman | Co-founder | [Role/profile source](https://foresight.org/people/sumner-norman/ ) | [PFP](https://foresight.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Sumner-Norman.png ) |
| Mikhail Shapiro | Co-founder; Caltech professor | [Role/profile source](https://cce.caltech.edu/faculty/mikhail-g-shapiro ) | [PFP](https://divisions-prod-assets.resources.caltech.edu/cce70/images/Shapiro_3252.7327a2bb.fill-310x412-c100.jpg ) |
All six co-founder relationships are jointly confirmed by official Merge/OpenAI introduction. Caltech/Foresight provide independently named portrait assets for Shapiro/Norman; role labels on these external pages can be historical. Alex and Sandro's portraits were extracted from their own LinkedIn profiles' `og:image` and named profile cards on 2026-10-06; signed media URLs can expire. Tools for Humanity founder roles should not be imported as Merge roles. Tyson's remote portrait remains unresolved; Sam's existing local asset is a review fallback, not a newly verified remote portrait.
## Investments and financing
| Date | Round | USD | Named investors | Evidence |
|---|---|---:|---|---|
| 2026-01 public introduction; corroborated 2026-09-01 | Seed | $252M | OpenAI; Bain Capital; Interface Fund; Fifty Years; Gabe Newell | [Butterfly issuer announcement](https://ir.butterflynetwork.com/News/press-releases/news-details/2026/Merge-Labs-and-Butterfly-Network-Partner-to-Advance-Ultrasound-Based-Brain-Computer-Interfaces/default.aspx ); [OpenAI participation](https://openai.com/index/investing-in-merge-labs/ ) |
Lead investor not established from the examined primary announcements; do not convert OpenAI participation into lead status without a supporting statement. Butterfly licensing collaboration has upfront/milestone obligations, hardware purchases and royalties; those are commercial/licensing terms, **not a second equity round or acquisition**. No separate grant/debt/acquisition verified.
## Existing adex match and review decision
Existing **two Org records** (`MergeLabs` and `GoldiOrg04c9041e3a0ee750`); review merge/deduplication. Existing `MergeLabs.extra.evidence` cites **unrelated API-integration company Merge’s $55M Series B** despite BCI description. Remove/replace that evidence after review; do not import its investors. Official current URL is merge.io, while existing duplicate references mergelabs.ai.
Read-only `Org` lookup found the following records. The snapshot below records existing claims, **not verification of those claims**. SHOW MORE
team@apexlogos.ai · 27 days ago
Sam AltmanCo-founder
Alex BlaniaCo-founder
Mikhail ShapiroCo-founder
Sandro HerbigCo-founder
Sumner NormanCo-founder