Chinese vision-implant maker Nanochap raises RMB 500 million

By Inside BCI · Edited by Velco Dar · November 4, 2026

In early June, a 40-year-old woman from Zhejiang province who had lost her sight to retinitis pigmentosa began recognising letters again, within days of a chip carrying 320 stimulation channels on her retina being switched on. The company that built the chip, Nanochap Electronics, has now raised RMB 500 million as it works towards approval.

The round

Nanochap said on 3 November 2026 that it had closed a RMB 500 million Series C+ round led by Gaorong Ventures. PICC Equity, Monolith, C&D Emerging Investment, Orient Jiafu, Danhe Capital and Hangzhou Industrial Investment Group also invested. Existing shareholders including Legend Capital and an unnamed industrial investor increased their stakes beyond their pro-rata share. It is the company’s second round of 2026, after a RMB 300 million strategic round in May co-led by Legend Capital and an unnamed industrial investor, and brings its total funding to RMB 1 billion. In May, a Tencent subsidiary, Shanghai Qishan Investment, also appeared on its shareholder register. The company did not say how the new money will be spent; the May round was earmarked for clinical trials and core technology development.

The implant

Nanochap was founded in 2014 to build a retinal implant, and designs its own chips. Its co-founder and chief executive, Yang Jiawei, spent years as a researcher at the University of Melbourne’s neural engineering centre and worked on chip design for Australia’s national bionic eye project. The company also offers neural stimulation and biosensing chips for wearable, rehabilitation and research devices, and its stated focus is restoring vision. Its retinal system, E-BCI, pairs a 3 by 3 millimetre implant with camera glasses, and Nanochap says it has an in-house production line for the implants in a clean room of nearly 2,000 square metres.

A registration trial, the stage that generates data for an approval application to China’s regulator, is under way at Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital, the Hangzhou campus of Wenzhou Medical University Eye Hospital and Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University. Nanochap says three patients have been implanted using different surgical approaches. The three hospitals publicised the cases in July, August and October without naming Nanochap, and the outcomes have not been published in a peer-reviewed journal. Nanochap aims to complete 30 implants in 2026 and to seek commercial approval in 2027.

A second product, V-BCI, sits on the surface of the visual cortex with 1,280 recording and 1,280 stimulation channels. It is in animal studies; Nanochap plans a first human trial in 2026 and has not reported one.

Why it matters

Restoring sight is becoming one of the busiest commercial targets for brain implants. Science Corporation won European approval for its PRIMA retinal implant in July, and Neuralink holds FDA breakthrough device designation for its Blindsight cortical implant and has not reported a human implant. In China, Xiangya Hospital in Changsha implanted a 256-channel retinal device in April. Nanochap’s round follows NeuroXess’s RMB 700 million raise last week, and adds state-owned backers including PICC Equity, part of state insurer PICC, and Hangzhou Industrial Investment Group.

Not disclosed

Nanochap has not disclosed how the new money will be spent, its valuation, revenue, the size of Tencent’s stake, how many patients the registration trial will enrol, or whether it has applied to China’s National Medical Products Administration for priority review.

What to watch

Whether Nanochap reaches 30 implants by the end of 2026.

Whether it publishes trial results in a peer-reviewed journal.

Whether the V-BCI cortical implant reaches a first human patient.

Whether Nanochap files for approval in 2027 as planned.

Sources

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Cross-reference to prior InsideBCI coverage:

market Nanochap China Hangzhou vision-restoration retinal-implant Gaorong-Ventures Legend-Capital PICC Tencent funding visual-BCI