Merge Labs and Butterfly Network Partner to Advance Ultrasound-Based Brain-Computer Interfaces

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Partnership brings together frontier BCI innovation and leading semiconductor-based ultrasound to enable new, less-invasive ways to interface with the human brain.

BURLINGTON, Mass. & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Butterfly Network, Inc. ("Butterfly") (NYSE: BFLY), a pioneer and leader in semiconductor-based ultrasound, programmable cloud software and AI, and Merge Labs today announced a multi-year licensing agreement through Butterfly Embedded™. The agreement gives Merge access to Butterfly’s Poseidon Family of Ultrasound-on-Chip™ technology for the development of ultrasound-based brain-computer interfaces (BCI).

Merge Labs was founded with the long-term mission of bridging biological and artificial intelligence to maximize human ability, agency and experience. Its founding team brings together researchers and technology entrepreneurs Tyson Aflalo, Sam Altman, Alex Blania, Sandro Herbig, Sumner Norman and Mikhail Shapiro. The company launched in January 2026 with $252 million in seed funding from investors including OpenAI, Bain Capital, Interface Fund, Fifty Years and Gabe Newell.

The multi-year agreement includes upfront and milestone-based license payments, hardware purchase commitments and technology access fees to Butterfly, with ongoing royalties expected on future commercial sales. As part of the agreement, Butterfly will serve as Merge’s exclusive CMOS-MEMS chip-based ultrasound partner, providing a foundation for Merge to develop its own custom neural interface technologies and systems. Butterfly maintains the right to license its technology to other companies in the field.

“We believe ultrasound has tremendous potential to enable a new generation of neural interfaces,” said Tyson Aflalo, Co-Founder, Merge Labs. “Our goal is to take the fastest and safest path to building the best technology possible, while enabling valuable R&D on downstream applications along the way. Butterfly has built a semiconductor-based ultrasound platform with the performance, flexibility, and commitment to innovation that can help us move quickly toward that goal.”

“We’re pleased to partner with Merge Labs and proud they’ve selected Butterfly as their exclusive platform for research and development,” said Joseph DeVivo, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Butterfly Network. “We’re committed to supporting their team as they advance this work from research toward commercialization. BCI is one of the most exciting and rapidly evolving areas of innovation today, with ultrasound emerging as an increasingly important modality. We’re excited about the role Butterfly can play in helping move the field forward.”

The announcement comes on the eve of Butterfly’s inaugural BCI Innovation Summit, taking place September 2, 2026, and convening leaders across BCI innovation, investment, research and the broader ecosystem to explore the future of the field. The event is invite-only; for additional information, contact media@butterflynetinc.com.

About Butterfly Network

Butterfly Network, Inc. (NYSE: BFLY) is driving a digital revolution in ultrasound imaging and sensing with its proprietary Ultrasound-on-Chip™ semiconductor technology and software solutions. Butterfly first proved its technology in the point-of-care ultrasound market – commercializing the world's first single-probe, whole-body portable ultrasound device, which is now on its best-selling, third-generation: Butterfly iQ3™. The Company combines its advanced hardware with cloud software and AI, an enterprise workflow solution (Compass AI™) and other offerings to drive adoption of affordable, accessible ultrasound. Butterfly also enables third-party development of imaging AI apps through Butterfly Garden™, its software development kit and AI marketplace.

In addition to its medical imaging products, Butterfly Embedded™ is the Company's Ultrasound-on-Chip™ licensing and co-development business designed to enable a new wave of ultrasound-enabled technologies across non-competitive healthcare markets and beyond. Through Butterfly Embedded™, partners can build and scale novel ultrasound applications powered by Butterfly's proprietary semiconductor chip and software platform.

Butterfly's innovations have been recognized by Prix Galien USA, Fierce 50, TIME's Best Inventions and Fast Company's World Changing Ideas, among other achievements. To learn more, visit: www.butterflynetwork.com.

About Merge Labs

Merge Labs was founded with the long-term mission of bridging biological and artificial intelligence to maximize human ability, agency and experience. The company was co-founded by Tyson Aflalo, Sam Altman, Alex Blania, Sandro Herbig, Sumner Norman, and Mikail Shapiro. To learn more, visit: https://merge.io/blog.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260901999280/en/

Butterfly Media:
Andrea Heuer
AOx3 for Butterfly
andrea@12080group.com
917-914-5563

Merge Media:
press@merge.io

Butterfly Investors:
John Doherty
Chief Financial Officer
investors@butterflynetinc.com

Source: Butterfly Network, Inc.

Key Terms

brain-computer interfaces technical

Devices and systems that read brain activity and convert those signals into commands a computer can understand, allowing communication or control without physical movement. Think of them as a translator between your thoughts and a machine; they matter to investors because they create new markets (medical treatments, accessibility tools, and consumer products) but also carry high research costs, long development timelines, regulatory hurdles, and ethical risks that can affect returns.

cmos-mems technical

CMOS-MEMS are tiny mechanical devices—like sensors, actuators or switches—made using semiconductor fabrication techniques that are compatible with standard CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) electronics so the mechanical parts and the control circuitry can be built together on the same chip. For investors, this matters because combining sensors and circuits on one chip can lower manufacturing costs, shrink product size, and speed time-to-market for devices that need integrated sensing or motion control, much as putting a camera and control board in a single smartphone module does.

milestone-based license payments financial

Payments structured in a licensing deal that are triggered only when the licensee or licensor reaches specific, pre-agreed milestones such as development steps, regulatory approvals, sales targets, or commercialization events. These payments matter to investors because they shift revenue from fixed to contingent timing and link future cash receipts to project progress and risk—similar to receiving installments only after a contractor clears each construction checkpoint.

royalties financial

Payments made to the owner of an asset or intellectual property each time that asset is used or a product is sold, often calculated as a percentage of sales or a set amount per unit. Royalties matter to investors because they create predictable, ongoing income streams and affect a company’s cash flow and valuation—like a landlord collecting rent or an author getting a steady cut whenever a book is sold.