Chinese neurotech unicorn BrainCo has raised about 2 billion yuan ($286.6 million) in a new funding round, said to be the second-largest deal in the global brain-computer interface (BCI) industry after rival Neuralink’s $650 million Series E round.
Hong Kong-based private equity (PE) firm IDG Capital and US venture capital (VC) firm Walden International, which was founded by Intel’s CEO Lip-Bu Tan, invested in the deal, alongside strategic industry investors including smart terminal components supplier Lens Technology and semiconductor design company OmniVision Integrated Circuits Group.
Other investors include AI terminal hardware producer Lingyi iTech, computing centres operator Range Intelligent Computing Technology Group, hotel management company H World Group, and after-school education service provider TAL Education Group, as well as family offices from Hong Kong and the US, DealStreetAsia learnt from an existing investor of BrainCo.
A Chinese challenger to Elon Musk’s Neuralink, BrainCo was founded in 2015 by Harvard alumnus Han Bicheng at the Harvard Innovation Labs to develop BCI technologies to enable direct communication between the brain and digital devices.
BrainCo, valued at an estimated 9 billion yuan ($1.3 billion) in June 2025 by the Hurun Research Institute, focuses on non-invasive BCI products for educational and wellness applications, such as its mass-produced smart bionic prosthetics and smart sleep aids for the rehabilitation of individuals with disabilities, autism, and other neurological conditions.
The proceeds will see the unicorn accelerate the R&D of core BCI technologies, achieve engineering breakthroughs, and scale up production and commercialisation, Shanghai Securities News reported, citing a company representative.
The representative said that, within the next 5-10 years, BrainCo aims to help one million people with limb disabilities rehabilitate and restore daily function through its neuro-controlled BCI prosthetics, such as the BrainCo Intelligent Bionic Hand and the BrainCo Intelligent Bionic Knee M3.
It also targets to improve conditions for 10 million patients with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Alzheimer’s disease, and insomnia using BCI devices.
BrainCo, which has a presence in both China and the US, including a Hong Kong office serving as its APAC headquarters, is said to have begun preparing documents for a stock market debut in Hong Kong or mainland China, according to a Bloomberg report in August 2025.
