An ultrasound brain-computer interface could in principle deliver targeted neuromodulation for depression, Parkinson’s disease, or chronic pain without opening a patient’s skull, and could read cerebral blood flow as a proxy for neural activity across the whole brain. That commercial thesis is currently being pursued by at least three publicly named Chinese startups that have disclosed funding rounds within the past ten days. The largest of them, Gestala (格式塔科技, English brand “Gestala”), announced on 3 July 2026 that it had closed a US$62 million Angel+ financing round and formally opened its new Shanghai NeuroAI headquarters. The announcement was posted by founder and CEO Phoenix Peng (Chinese name 彭雷 / Peng Lei) from his verified X handle @phoenixpeng1119. Chinese trade press coverage of the round, published the same day by Investment Circle (Zhou Jiali byline) and republished by 36Kr, reports the round size as ¥420 million yuan and names Huaying Capital as lead investor.
Gestala’s prior Angel round of ¥150 million (which the company describes as US$21 million) closed in March 2026, so the July 2026 Angel+ tranche follows the initial Angel round within six months.
What Gestala actually builds
Per the company’s own materials, Gestala is a non-invasive ultrasound brain-computer interface platform combining three functional pillars. First, ultrasound neuromodulation, where focused ultrasound is used to modulate neural activity at specific brain targets, a category adjacent to the transcranial focused ultrasound stimulation used clinically in essential tremor via the ExAblate Neuro platform from Insightec and in ongoing research for depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and chronic pain. Second, functional ultrasound imaging, where high-frame-rate ultrasound reads cerebral blood volume dynamics as a proxy for neural activity, the same underlying reading modality that Aleph Neuro in San Francisco used for its 24 June 2026 ultrasound localisation microscopy image of a living human brain through an intact skull and that Forest Neurotech has been developing as an implantable acoustic-window BCI using Butterfly Network’s Ultrasound-on-Chip platform. Third, blood-brain barrier opening for drug delivery, the same category that Sisen Technology (which Inside BCI covered on 1 July 2026, Tsinghua and ETH Zurich alumni team, seed round tens of millions of yuan, glioblastoma focus) and French company Carthera (Phase III trials of the SonoCloud device for recurrent glioblastoma) are pursuing.
Gestala names chronic pain, depression, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, stroke rehabilitation, epilepsy, and PTSD as target clinical indications on its Science page. The company has not disclosed a named product line, an IND filing timeline, or a first-in-human date on its public materials. Its Chengdu manufacturing facility, described on the company’s website as an ultrasound BCI factory at 16,000 square metres, completed phase-one buildout at the end of June 2026. Gestala operates a dual-headquarters arrangement: Chengdu is the global headquarters and manufacturing site; the new Shanghai NeuroAI headquarters that opened on 3 July 2026 is located at 10th floor, Brain Intelligence World, No. 666 Minbei Road, Minhang District, Shanghai.
The Scientific Advisory Board
Gestala announced additions to its Scientific Advisory Board across April and May 2026. Prof Feng Jianfeng, Dean of Fudan University’s Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence (ISTBI) and a computational neuroscientist with a substantial academic publication record, joined the board in May 2026. Prof Trevor Robbins, the Cambridge behavioural neuroscientist, joined in April 2026. Dr Bashar Badran, a neuromodulation researcher at the Medical University of South Carolina with a substantial transcranial magnetic stimulation and vagus-nerve-stimulation publication record, is also named on the SAB per Gestala’s own announcements. All three SAB additions are Gestala-announced; the SAB participation itself is verifiable via the company’s own communications.
The Chinese ultrasound BCI category is a race, not a single-player market
Gestala is not the only Chinese ultrasound BCI company raising capital in this cycle. The 36Kr piece names Huachao Shenkong (华超神控) as an ultrasonic brain-computer interface company that has closed hundreds-of-millions-yuan angel financing. Combined with Sisen Technology (which Inside BCI covered on 1 July 2026, Tsinghua and ETH Zurich alumni team, seed round tens of millions of yuan, drug-delivery focus via blood-brain-barrier opening), the Chinese ultrasound BCI category now has at least three publicly named startups with disclosed capital, spanning drug delivery (Sisen), platform ultrasound neuromodulation plus functional ultrasound imaging (Gestala), and an as-yet-narrower ultrasound BCI approach (Huachao Shenkong). Coverage of any individual company that repeats a “first Chinese ultrasound BCI” superlative is incomplete; the accurate framing is a Chinese ultrasound BCI cohort that has emerged in a single funding cycle.
Globally, the ultrasound BCI category also contains Aleph Neuro (San Francisco, ULM imaging, Butterfly Embedded partnership disclosed 24 June 2026), Forest Neurotech (implantable acoustic-window BCI on Butterfly Ultrasound-on-Chip, US$14 million commitment from Eric Schmidt via Convergent Research), Iconeus (Paris, preclinical functional-ultrasound scanners since around 2019), and Merge Labs (Sam Altman, Caltech’s Mikhail Shapiro, seed announced 15 January 2026 with OpenAI participating).
Industrial-policy anchoring
Gestala’s Shanghai NeuroAI headquarters sits inside the Shanghai Minhang District brain-computer interface cluster, known in Chinese as Brain Intelligence World (脑智天地). Chengdu, where Gestala’s global headquarters and manufacturing footprint sit, launched its Chantou 28 future-industries plan in October 2025, and Gestala was named a portfolio investment under that plan per the company’s own reporting. This fits the Industrial Builder posture that Inside BCI’s ongoing coverage has identified as the Chinese regulatory frame, distinct from the state-patchwork US, horizontal-regulator EU, and rights-first Chile postures documented in the 22 June 2026 Neuracle piece and the 26 June 2026 Guangdong Dual-Core Action Plan coverage.
What to watch
The first signal is the identity of Gestala’s Series A lead investor and the round size when disclosed. Whether Gestala goes for a further RMB-denominated round with continued state-fund participation or brings in US dollar or Hong Kong dollar-denominated capital as a step toward a public listing will indicate the trajectory.
The second signal is the Chengdu manufacturing facility’s operational buildout. A 16,000 square metre ultrasound BCI manufacturing footprint is meaningful only if it produces devices; a first named product line and NMPA IND filing would convert the factory buildout into a clinical-stage timeline.
The third signal is whether Gestala or its Chinese ultrasound BCI peers (Huachao Shenkong, Sisen Technology) pursue Chinese-market-only clinical trials or attempt CE Mark or US FDA IDE pathways. The commercial category assumption is that non-invasive ultrasound BCI clears regulatory hurdles faster than intracortical electrode BCI. Whether that assumption converts to actual submission timelines is the practical question.
The fourth signal is Huachao Shenkong’s own next round and product disclosures. It is the least-covered of the three named Chinese ultrasound BCI companies and the one most likely to close the informational gap in Chinese ultrasound BCI coverage over the next quarter.
Sources
- Phoenix Peng tweet announcing US$62M Angel+ round and Shanghai HQ opening (@phoenixpeng1119, 3 July 2026)
- Gestala corporate site (gestala.com)
- The Most Hyped Angel Round for Brain-Computer Interface, Unveiling of the Shanghai Headquarters (36Kr English via Investment Circle/pedaily2012, 3 July 2026, byline Zhou Jiali)
- Inside BCI: Sisen Technology Tsinghua-ETH ultrasonic BCI seed round, 1 July 2026 · Aleph Neuro × Butterfly Embedded 3D ULM, 28 June 2026 · Neuracle STAR Market IPO prospectus accepted, 22 June 2026 · Guangdong Dual-Core BCI Action Plan, 26 June 2026