Overview

INBRAIN Neuroelectronics is a Barcelona-based neurotechnology company developing graphene-based brain-computer interfaces and intelligent network modulation devices. The company was founded in 2019 by Anton Guimera, Carolina Aguilar, Jose Garrido, and Kostas Kostarelos as a spin-off from ICN2 (Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology) and ICREA (Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies), with the participation of IMB-CNM-CSIC. INBRAIN operates from the Barcelona Science Park.

Carolina Aguilar (CEO and co-founder)

Carolina Aguilar serves as CEO and is a co-founder. The company is recognised as a 2025 World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer.

Graphene technology

INBRAIN’s core innovation is a graphene-based BCI architecture using ultra-thin, biocompatible electrodes capable of decoding and modulating brain signals in real time at micrometric precision. Graphene’s mechanical and electrical properties enable a minimally invasive implantable interface that is structurally different from the metal-electrode penetrating arrays of US-anchored peers and from the soft-polymer electrode arrays of EPFL Lausanne-anchored peers.

Clinical milestones

In September 2024, INBRAIN completed the world’s first application of a graphene-based BCI in a human patient at Salford Royal Hospital in Manchester (UK), during brain tumour resection surgery. The company holds FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for its graphene-based Intelligent Network Modulation platform.

Funding and capital structure

INBRAIN closed a $50 million Series B in October 2024 led by Belgium’s imec.xpand, with participation from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund, Spain’s CDTI-Innvierte and Fond ICO Next Tech, and Catalonia’s Avançsa. The round amounts to a coordinated bet by multiple European public-sector funders on a Barcelona graphene neurotechnology company and represents the densest European public-capital footprint of any BCI company in the world.

Strategic position

INBRAIN sits at the intersection of European deeptech, advanced materials science, and clinical BCI. Its graphene architecture is the material-level wager against the metal-electrode consensus that dominates US clinical-stage BCI, and the company’s positioning is closely watched as a test case for whether European public-research-anchored neurotechnology can scale commercially against the venture-backed US cohort.