Chinese startup Gestala pursues non‑invasive brain interfaces using focused ultrasound

Gestala, a recently founded firm operating from Chengdu with offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong, is building a pathway to brain–computer interfaces that avoids implanted electrodes by leveraging focused ultrasound. The company’s immediate commercial target is chronic pain: the plan is to deliver concentrated acoustic energy to regions implicated in the emotional aspects of pain to reduce symptom intensity. Management describes a two-step product strategy — an initial clinic-bound benchtop system for supervised treatments and a later consumer-capable helmet for at-home use under medical oversight. Beyond analgesia, the roadmap ambitiously includes applications such as mood disorders, stroke rehabilitation, dementia care, and sleep disturbances. Where electrical BCIs sample neuronal voltages, Gestala proposes to infer brain state through hemodynamic changes driven by ultrasound, repurposing diagnostic physics for both stimulation and sensing. This blood-flow–based readout differs technically and operationally from electrodes, offering broader spatial coverage but bringing different signal-to-noise constraints. The startup enters a crowded and intensifying global race in non-invasive neurotechnology, paralleling recent activity by other ventures and venture-backed labs exploring ultrasound approaches. Significant technical challenges remain: the human skull scatters and attenuates acoustic waves, and convincing demonstrations of noninvasive ultrasound-based decoding in intact human heads are limited to date. Early clinical evidence in pain interventions suggests symptomatic relief that can persist for days, but those studies are small and focused on target engagement rather than scalable therapy delivery. Regulatory, safety, and validation pathways will determine whether clinic-based prototypes can move to routine outpatient or home use, and whether read–write ambitions can translate into reliable diagnostics or closed‑loop treatments. Commercial and ethical questions also arise if devices evolve from therapeutic tools to instruments that monitor mental states; the company frames its goal as restoring healthy neural function rather than enhancement. Gestala’s combination of entrepreneurial leadership with neuroscience ties signals meaningful investment in ultrasound BCI concepts, but the route from prototype to clinically validated, noninvasive brain reading remains technically demanding and time-consuming. Observers should watch for peer-reviewed data on targeting accuracy, depth of penetration through skull, reproducibility of hemodynamic signals, and safety profiles as the company negotiates trials and potential hospital partnerships.