Phosphoenix raises EUR 1.3M for a vision implant that bypasses the eye

Phosphoenix, an Amsterdam company spun out of the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, announced on 16 September 2026 that it had raised EUR 1.3 million. Existing investors TTT Medtech Fund, FIRST Fund and Innovatiefonds Noord-Holland took part alongside ROM InWest, a new investor.

The money funds preparations for a first-in-human study of the Fountain Probe, which the company describes as a high-density neural interface carrying more than 1,000 microelectrodes. The probe is implanted in the lateral geniculate nucleus, the relay that carries signals from the eye toward the visual cortex, and stimulates it directly. Stimulating one electrode produces a dot of light, a phosphene; stimulating several produces a pattern. The intended population is people whose retina or optic nerve is damaged beyond repair, for whom a retinal implant has nothing left to work with.

The first-in-human study is planned with Amsterdam UMC. Phosphoenix says it is preparing a Series A round to fund its clinical development programme.

A cortical visual neuroprosthesis does not return sight as the eye delivers it. It supplies a sparse artificial image whose usefulness depends on how many electrodes can be placed and how well the brain learns to read them.