The Round
Science Corporation has closed a $230 million Series C led by Khosla Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners, with continued participation from Y Combinator. The round values the company at approximately $1.25 billion post-money, making it the second most valuable brain-implant company after Elon Musk’s Neuralink.
The raise brings Science Corp’s total funding to roughly $490 million — a war chest that CEO Max Hodak says will fund the commercial launch of PRIMA and development of next-generation cortical interfaces.
What PRIMA Does
PRIMA is a photovoltaic chip smaller than a grain of rice that is implanted beneath the retina. Paired with camera-equipped smart glasses, the system converts visual information into electrical stimulation patterns that activate remaining retinal neurons, restoring functional vision to patients with advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
In clinical trials spanning 47 patients across Europe and the United States, 80 percent demonstrated meaningful improvement in visual acuity — reading letters, numbers, and short words that were previously invisible to them. The results represent some of the strongest efficacy data in the vision-restoration field to date.
Path to Market
Science Corp has submitted a CE mark application to European regulators and expects approval by mid-2026. If the timeline holds, PRIMA would become the first commercially available BCI product — a milestone the entire neurotech industry has been racing toward.
The company plans to launch in Europe first while continuing its FDA regulatory pathway for the US market. Hodak has previously indicated that the European route offers a faster path to patients, with the US launch expected to follow within 12–18 months.
Why It Matters
The raise is significant for three reasons. First, a $1.25 billion valuation in today’s funding climate signals serious investor conviction that BCI is crossing from research into commerce. Second, the 80 percent efficacy rate across 47 patients gives PRIMA a clinical evidence base that few neural-interface companies can match. Third, a mid-2026 CE mark would make Science Corp the first BCI company to put a product on the market — ahead of Neuralink, Synchron, and every other competitor.
For the broader BCI industry, this funding round is a validation event. It demonstrates that the capital markets see vision restoration not as a science project but as a viable, near-term medical device business.