NeuroXess Completes Hundreds of Millions RMB Series A Funding to Advance Invasive Brain-Computer Interface Development

On December 28, NeuroXess (hereinafter referred to as "NeuroXess"), the global leader in invasive brain-computer interface solutions, officially announced the completion of a RMB hundreds of millions Series A financing round.This round of financing was led byLed by Zhongping Capital, with participation from Light Boat Capital, Guosheng Capital (Chengdu BioCity), Shanghai Sail Leader, and Evolutionary Game Theory. Existing investors Shanda, Lianxin Capital, and Sequoia China continued to increase their investments. Huaxing Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor for this round of transactions.

NeuroXess is a leading Chinese life technology company that protects and explores the brain through flexible brain-computer interface technology. Founded in November 2021, the company focuses on the R&D of invasive brain-computer interface devices with the most imaginative potential. NeuroXess has independently developed a minimally invasive, high-throughput, flexible brain-computer interface technology, breaking foreign technological monopolies. The company leads comprehensively in multiple areas such as flexible electrodes, biomaterials, chip design, core algorithms, digital brain libraries, implantation methods, clinical applications, and ecosystem construction.

The human brain, with its 86 billion neurons, is one of the most complex entities in the known universe and remains the most mysterious organ responsible for human behavior, memory, and perception. Globally, countries have positioned "brain initiatives" as strategic national policies. China officially launched its "Brain Project" in 2021. As a crucial component of the "14th Five-Year Plan" for science and technology development, the initiative has drawn participation from major universities and research institutes across China, receiving significant financial support from the state. Over the next decade, the Chinese government plans to invest tens of billions of RMB in related research and exploration. In September 2022, Shanghai released the "Action Plan for Building a Future Industry Innovation Hub and Expanding Future Industrial Clusters," which highlighted brain-computer interfaces as a key direction within the future healthcare sector among five major industrial clusters.

In the scientific research field, brain-computer interface (BCI) serves as a fundamental tool for brain science. Scientists rely on BCI technology to explore cutting-edge science. In the medical field, China has nearly 130 million patients suffering from various brain-related diseases. Due to the complex mechanisms of brain diseases and the high difficulty in drug development, these conditions have become significant public health, social, and livelihood issues. As a direct communication pathway created between the brain and external devices, BCI is a strong candidate for innovative therapies targeting brain diseases in the future. Patients with neurological disorders can use BCIs to control external devices, enabling the restoration of sensory and motor functions, regaining essential daily and social abilities, and reintegrating into family and society. Focusing on areas such as ALS, high-level paralysis, blindness and muteness, stroke, epilepsy, and related fields, the market potential for BCIs exceeds tens of billions of RMB. In the future, BCIs could significantly enhance human sensory and reaction speeds, information acquisition, and transmission efficiency, presenting profound implications and vast imaginative potential in scenarios like consumer applications, education, and gaming.

How to balance high-throughput reading and writing of the brain with minimally invasive implantation is a major challenge currently faced by brain-computer interface technology. NeuroXess, centered around the core concept of "maximizing the utilization of the brain while minimizing damage to it," has made remarkable progress in four key areas: technical capabilities, clinical trials, commercial implementation, and team building.

In terms of technical capabilities, the company has completed the construction of several core technology trees, including neural electrodes, biomaterials, EEG chips, medical-grade implants, high-throughput EEG devices, neurosurgical robotic systems, and a digital brain algorithm cloud platform, with all core technologies already protected by patent applications.The company has built comprehensive capabilities from research to industrialization with a core technology tree perspective, constructing an end-to-end complete solution.

In terms of clinical trials, the company was the first to obtain ethical approval for clinical trials in China. It has conducted several scientific research clinical trials and achieved good expected results. Professor Chen Liang from Huashan Hospital stated, "In the field of functional neurosurgery, breakthroughs in brain-computer interface technology will create new opportunities in multiple areas such as the treatment of brain diseases, research on pathogenic mechanisms, and innovative regulatory medical devices. We are actively and optimistically promoting related clinical research." Professor Lu Yong from Ruijin Hospital also stated, "In the field of difficult-to-treat brain diseases such as ALS, severe depression, addiction, and epilepsy, there is a strong demand and broad application prospect for new clinical paradigms brought by new technologies such as brain-computer interfaces."

In terms of commercialization and implementation, the company has also made rapid progress.In just one year since its establishment, the company's first batch of products with independent intellectual property rights have been successfully implemented. Downstream customers include medical institutions, universities, and scientific research institutes. Related products have started to generate commercial revenue and maintain a rapid growth trend.

In terms of team building, brain-computer interface, as a system engineering that integrates life science and information technology, involves multiple disciplines such as sensors, chips, algorithms, AI, neuroscience, materials science, robotics, clinical medicine, ethics, etc., among which industry-university-research collaboration and medical integration are closely linked. Since its establishment, the company has rapidly assembled a top-tier multidisciplinary team from both domestic and international backgrounds to achieve breakthroughs in original core technologies independently. It adopts an "academic + commercial dual-track" model for organizational design and business advancement. The company has an exclusive advisory board of top scientists, whose members come from top universities and institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Laboratories, Harvard University, the University of Texas at Austin, Rice University, and Mayo Clinic; In terms of engineering capability building, the company also attracts commercially strategic talents with strong execution power. The management team all comes from core middle and senior levels of star companies in the industry, such as MicroPort, Medtronic, Carl Zeiss, and Alibaba.

In the future, the company will always adhere to the mission of "remodeling and enhancing human perception and cognition through brain-computer interface technology, thereby protecting, exploring, and extending the boundaries of the brain, enabling HI (Human Intelligence) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) to evolve from interaction, to symbiosis, and eventually to twinning," striving towards the goal of reinforcing a new direction for China's brain science strategy.

NeuroXess Founder and CEO Peng LeiNeuroXess stated: "Over the past year since its establishment, NeuroXess has achieved certain accomplishments and progress in areas such as technological capability development, commercial pathway planning, and organizational talent growth. Here, we would like to express our special gratitude to the country for its firm and long-term strategic emphasis on cutting-edge brain science technology, to the researchers involved in China's Brain Project for their recognition, and to all of our new and existing shareholders for their trust and support. We will continue to work hard, spare no effort, and fulfill our mission and vision to connect the brain to the future!"

As the lead investor in this round，Wu Bin, Founding Partner and CEO of Zhongping Capital"It means: 'Brain-computer interface technology represents a completely new path for humanity to further explore the brain and develop a new platform for therapeutic technologies. It is full of unknowns and challenges, and the world is at a critical stage of development. Chinese scientists, innovating in sync with the international community, are transforming some cutting-edge technologies into practical applications. Brain-computer interfaces involve more than 10 interdisciplinary fields, including clinical medicine, materials, chips, information control, algorithms, and more. We are very pleased to see the solid foundation in basic science research demonstrated by the team at NeuroXess, as well as their remarkable progress in practical applications. Their continuous efforts in productizing innovations across scientific research, consumer, and clinical fields are gradually lighting up the tech tree of brain-computer interfaces. Adhering to the long-term investment philosophy of 'people-oriented, starting with the end in mind,' Zhongping Capital actively responds to the national brain initiative strategy. By empowering technology and medicine through capital, and partnering with outstanding scientists and entrepreneurs, we aim to ultimately help address and solve the brain-related diseases that have long plagued humanity after years of arduous exploration and research.'"

Bin Zhou, Founding Partner of Light Boat CapitalStated: "Brain-computer interface is one of the most effective means to decipher the brain's mechanisms. After conducting in-depth research on the brain-computer interface industry, we believe that invasive brain-computer interfaces have greater potential for scientific research and application. We compared all brain-computer interface-related enterprises in China and found that NeuroXess has significant advantages in electrodes, chips, algorithms, and more. We believe that future brain-computer interface companies could potentially establish a standardized data platform for brain signal reading, forming various classified databases to provide foundational data support for brain science research, accelerating humanity’s understanding of the brain, and subsequently advancing complex research areas such as artificial intelligence, neuromorphic chips, and treatments for difficult diseases, which may lead to platform-level scalability. In the future, we will work hand-in-hand with NeuroXess to help it become a leading company in this field and promote the vigorous development of China's brain science research ecosystem."

Chen Tianqiao, Founder of Shanda Group and TCCI (Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute)"Congratulations to NeuroXess on completing a new round of financing. It's great to see this China-based company, which develops original invasive brain-computer interface technology, steadily advancing in human clinical trials and continuously achieving results. Coincidentally, Synchron, the U.S.-based interventional brain-computer interface technology company invested in by Shanda, also just completed a $75 million financing round last week, with new investors including funds backed by Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates."

Sequoia ChinaSaid: "Brain-computer interface is an exciting future technology. We see that major countries around the world have announced ambitious brain science initiatives, and domestic brain science research in China has made encouraging progress in recent years. I hope that a Chinese company can soon integrate biopotential electrodes, signal acquisition, consciousness decoding, and functional application to provide product-level brain-computer interface services."

Yang Cheng, Evolutionary Game Investment Partner"It is commented that NeuroXess serves as a model of student entrepreneurship. The two founders, who were classmates at the University of Science and Technology of China, include one who is a serial internet entrepreneur with 20 years of experience and another who is an award-winning scientist with numerous accolades. Although their personalities and interests differ somewhat, their perseverance in certain matters is remarkably aligned—for instance, their curiosity and spirit of exploration in science, as well as their commitment to the values of using business to give back to scientific research and society. With the combination of their strengths, NeuroXess is poised to become an outstanding company that will benefit society and many more people."

Co-President of Huaxing Capital Investment Banking Division, Yi-Jing Xie"We are very honored to assist NeuroXess in completing this milestone private equity financing transaction. NeuroXess possesses world-leading continuous innovation and R&D capabilities across the entire technology stack of the brain-computer interface industry chain. We believe that, with the support of this round of financing, NeuroXess, with its professional team and technical advantages, will continue to break through key technical nodes in invasive brain-computer interfaces and achieve more milestones. We will also continue to accompany the company on its new journey, helping NeuroXess become a global leader in invasive brain-computer interfaces."