Three Chinese BCI companies raised RMB 1.66 billion in eight days

By Inside BCI · Edited by Velco Dar · November 5, 2026

Nine months after it was founded, a Shanghai brain-implant company with no reported human trials has raised RMB 794 million. Zhudong Technology’s RMB 464 million round, announced on 4 November, closed a run of eight days in which three Chinese brain-computer interface developers raised more than RMB 1.6 billion between them.

The rounds

NeuroXess, a Shanghai developer of a fully implanted, wireless implant that sits on the surface of the brain, announced a RMB 700 million Series B on 28 October, co-led by SDIC Juli, Shenzhen Capital Group and Qinzhi Capital. State capital dominated the round overall. NeuroXess began a registration trial at Huashan Hospital on 7 July.

Nanochap, a Hangzhou developer of a 320-channel retinal implant for blindness, announced a RMB 500 million Series C+ on 3 November, led by Gaorong Ventures, with investors including the state-backed PICC Equity and Hangzhou Industrial Investment Group. It says three patients have been implanted in its clinical trials.

Zhudong Technology (主动科技), incubated by Shanghai’s Lingang Laboratory and founded in February 2026, announced a RMB 464 million Angel+ round on 4 November. Gaorong Ventures, the Shanghai Guotou Xiandao Fund and Shanghai Science and Technology Venture Capital co-led it, and the state-backed China Internet Investment Fund joined. It follows a RMB 330 million angel round announced on 3 August. Zhudong is developing implants for movement, vision and emotion, and has not reported a human implant. Zhudong says that, among publicly disclosed deals, it is the largest Angel+ round for a Chinese brain-computer interface company.

Together the three rounds total RMB 1.664 billion.

StairMed heads for a listing

StairMed, the Shanghai developer of a 256-channel implant backed by Alibaba and Tencent, filed on 2 November with the China Securities Regulatory Commission’s Shanghai office for pre-listing tutoring, the formal preparation Chinese companies complete before applying for an A-share listing, with Huatai United Securities as its adviser. StairMed has raised about RMB 1.4 billion since July and RMB 2.6 billion in total, and says it had completed 42 long-term implants by October 2026. Neuracle’s application to list on Shanghai’s STAR Market has been under review since the Shanghai Stock Exchange accepted it on 11 June.

The ‘over RMB 3 billion in a week’ figure in Chinese coverage adds StairMed’s RMB 1.4 billion to the three new rounds. StairMed disclosed that sum as money raised since July, without naming the rounds or their dates.

Why it matters

Chinese state capital is now leading or joining rounds at every stage, from a nine-month-old company with no patients to companies in clinical trials and one preparing to list. Gaorong Ventures led or co-led two of the three rounds. For overseas investors, the field is also getting harder to enter: the US Treasury proposed in October to bar most new US private investment in Chinese brain-computer interface companies. For Western developers, the money lets Chinese companies run trials and build factories at the same time; NeuroXess has said its round will help pay for a 14,300-square-metre factory with a production target on the order of 10,000 systems.

Not disclosed

Zhudong has not disclosed when it expects to start human trials. StairMed has not disclosed the rounds, investors or valuation behind its RMB 1.4 billion raised since July, or when it plans to file its listing application. Nanochap has not said how it will spend its new money.

What to watch

Whether StairMed files an A-share listing application, and on which exchange.

Whether Zhudong reports a first human implant in 2027.

Whether the US Treasury’s proposed rule on investment in Chinese brain-computer interface companies is finalised.

Sources

Primary:

Coverage:

Cross-reference to prior InsideBCI coverage:

market China funding NeuroXess Nanochap Zhudong-Technology StairMed Gaorong-Ventures state-capital IPO Shanghai Lingang-Laboratory