An Afternoon in Hangzhou: Moved by a Brain-Computer Interface Pioneer Filing for IPO

BrainCo has taken a slow path over the past decade.

New Molecule Original · Author | Mingqiang Sang

This week, I went to Hangzhou on a business trip and took the opportunity to visit the headquarters of BrainCo.

To be honest, I didn’t have high expectations before going. Over the years, I’ve seen too many so-called high-tech companies—flashy PowerPoint presentations, but once you step inside, it’s either half-finished products for lab display only or conceptual products that no one actually uses. I’ve been hearing about brain-computer interfaces for nearly a decade now. In my mind, it’s either Musk’s wild fantasy for conquering Mars or pages of dense formulas and charts in academic journals, a concept that feels light-years away from everyday life.

I had even planned it out: after going in, take a few photos, listen to the person in charge talk about the vision and technical parameters for an hour or so, and then end the routine day.

Until I walked into their exhibition hall.

The first person we see is Ni Mincheng. He stands in front of a desk covered with rice paper, wearing a pair of black bionic hands, writing calligraphy with a brush. Dipping the brush in ink, moving it gracefully, and finishing with a flourish, his movements are smooth and natural, each stroke exuding strength. He writes the four characters “宁静致远 (Tranquility Leads to Distant Goals),” the ink balanced between thick and light, the structure neat and powerful. If it weren’t for his empty sleeves swaying gently with his motions, you’d never imagine that this man, who writes such beautiful calligraphy, lost both arms in an accident at the age of nine.

After writing the last character, he looked up, greeted us with a smile, and then extended his bionic hand to shake hands with each of us. The temperature and grip of that hand were just right—not cold, not stiff, and not so strong that it would hurt you. It felt no different from shaking hands with an ordinary person. I later learned that to achieve this simple handshake motion, engineers from BrainCo and Ni Mincheng had worked together for several years to perfect it.

At this moment, the sound of the piano suddenly rang out from beside.

The pianist is a young man born in the 2000s, named Zhou Jian. He wore a T-shirt and had a shy smile on his face. His right hand is a silver bionic hand, its fingers dancing across the black and white keys, playing the piece "Big Fish" with a melodious and lingering tune. At that moment, I even had an illusion that he was no different from any of us.

At the age of 12, a factory machine accident took away his right hand and lower right arm. Since then, he never touched a piano again. He said that during that time, he felt his life was over, locking himself in his room every day and refusing to speak to anyone. That was until three years ago, when he started wearing the BrainCo smart bionic hand.

That afternoon, as I stood in the exhibition hall watching Ni Mincheng write and listening to Zhou Jian play the piano, I suddenly understood the true meaning of "technology for good."

This is not a scene from a sci-fi movie. This is 2026, a real moment happening in an office in Hangzhou's Future Sci-Tech City. Brain-computer interface is no longer an unreachable future or a cold technical concept; it has become a pair of hands that can write, a pair of hands that can play the piano, and the hope for countless ordinary people to embrace life once again.

01

From the Basement of Harvard to Hangzhou:

"A 'Foolish Path' That No One Expected"

Han Bicheng, the founder of BrainCo, is a Ph.D. from the Harvard University Center for Brain Science. Eleven years ago, he and a few classmates founded this company in the basement of Harvard.

It sounds like an inspiring entrepreneurial story now. But back then, almost everyone thought he was crazy.

In 2015, the brain-computer interface industry was still in a state of absolute desolation. Almost all funding came from government and research institutions, with no truly commercialized products available. Invasive technologies at the time were still in the monkey experiment stage, while non-invasive technologies had an extremely low signal-to-noise ratio, only capable of recognizing the simplest commands like "turn left" or "turn right." When investors heard the term "brain-computer interface," they would turn and walk away, saying it would take at least fifty years for this technology to become viable.

At that time in China, it was the wildest era of internet entrepreneurship. O2O, shared bicycles, live-streaming e-commerce—one wave after another of trends surged continuously, and any random idea could secure millions or even tens of millions in funding. No one was willing to invest in a hard-tech project that seemed like science fiction with no returns in sight for at least a decade.

Similar to many Silicon Valley startup stories, the founding members of BrainCo were soldering circuit boards and writing algorithms in the basement of Harvard, working over ten hours a day, eating and sleeping in the lab. During meetings, everyone would sit on the floor, gathering around a folding table to discuss. "Technology is never achieved in one step; you need to have faith in your heart to move forward slowly," said Han Bicheng.

Han Bicheng is best known for a story about his initial product, which required the use of medical conductive gel on the scalp. In order to experiment on himself during his first year as a Ph.D. student at Harvard University, he washed his hair over 800 times, with up to 30 washes in a single day at most. He was jokingly referred to as the "Hair-washing Doctor" by his friends.

In 2017, the appearance of Ni Mincheng became an important turning point in the development history of BrainCo.

At the age of 9, Ni Mincheng lost both arms due to an accident. In the following 20 years, he tried various kinds of prosthetics, but none of them satisfied him. Some were too heavy, causing his arms to become sore after wearing them for just a short while; some were too clumsy, only capable of performing "open" and "fist" movements; others even caused injuries by pinching his skin.

"Those prosthetics are not a part of the body, but a heavy burden," Ni Mincheng said. It wasn't until he first tried on BrainCo's bionic hand on the show *I Am the Future*. Ni Mincheng later recalled to the media that when he slowly activated the mechanical prosthetic fingers with his thoughts, many in the audience raised their hands to wipe away tears.

Later, Ni Mincheng came to Hangzhou and became the first full-time product experience officer at BrainCo. Together with the engineers, he meticulously refined every detail of the product. From how to pick up an egg without crushing it, to how to hold a pen and write, to how to use a mobile phone, and even how to shake hands with people. Every single movement required collecting thousands of neural signals and optimizing the algorithms countless times.

"Engineers are smart, but they don’t know how a person without hands lives every day," Ni Mincheng said. "I know. I know which actions are the most important and where the greatest inconvenience lies. I can tell them what this product should be like."

In this way, Ni Mincheng participated in the development of each generation of BrainCo's bionic hands using his own body. He provided the most crucial neural electrical signal data and user experience feedback for BrainCo's first-generation bionic hand.

02

The Contest of Two Routes: It's Not About Winning or Losing, But About Each Having Its Own Destination

Many people like to compare BrainCo with Neuralink, saying that Musk's invasive technology is more advanced and has more imaginative future applications. To be honest, I really admire Musk. He always manages to turn the unimaginable into reality. Neuralink's invasive technology can indeed obtain higher precision brain signals, allowing paralyzed patients to play games with their thoughts or even control robots. But I appreciate the path that BrainCo is taking more.

To understand the difference between these two approaches, it's actually quite simple. Invasive technology is like placing a microphone right next to the speaker's mouth, capturing the clearest sound, but it requires cutting open the speaker’s throat to insert the microphone. Non-invasive technology is akin to listening to the speaker through a wall — the sound will be less clear, but no one gets hurt.

The advantage of invasive technology is its high signal accuracy, enabling extremely fine control. However, its disadvantages are also apparent: it requires craniotomy surgery, with risks of intracranial infection, bleeding, and immune rejection; over time, electrodes can become encapsulated by brain tissue, causing the signal to gradually weaken, necessitating another surgery for replacement after a few years; moreover, the cost is extremely high—ordinary people simply cannot afford the equipment and surgical expenses.

The disadvantage of non-invasive technology is the low signal-to-noise ratio, which is susceptible to interference from muscle activity and environmental noise, making it difficult to achieve very precise control. However, its advantages include safety, being non-invasive, low cost, no need for surgery, ready-to-use upon wearing, and the ability to be worn for long periods.

These two routes, there is no absolute right or wrong, just different choices.

Neuralink has chosen a radical, future-oriented path. It pursues the ultimate performance of technology, aiming to achieve the integration of the human brain and artificial intelligence, ultimately turning humans into "superhumans."

BrainCo, however, has chosen a pragmatic and present-oriented path. It pursues the universality of technology, aiming to help the greatest number of ordinary people solve real problems at the lowest cost.

Han Bicheng himself also said that these two routes are not对立的, but complementary. "For tens of millions of physically disabled people worldwide and hundreds of millions of ordinary consumers, non-invasive technology that can be used without surgery, simply by wearing it on the head or arm, is truly普及的技术."

Zhou Jian is the best example.

In 2022, Zhou Jian installed BrainCo's intelligent bionic hand for free through a project by the Zhejiang Province Disabled Persons Welfare Foundation. The first time he wore it, he tried moving his fingers and found that whichever finger he wanted to move responded accordingly. "I thought I would never be able to play the piano again in my life," Zhou Jian said. "But the moment I put on the bionic hand, I knew there was still hope for my life."

Now, Zhou Jian can not only eat, dress himself, and squeeze toothpaste on his own, but he has also learned to play the piano and video games. Last year, he even performed "Big Fish" at a nationwide event in China using a bionic hand, moving countless people. He started an account on Douyin to share his daily life. Many disabled individuals like him have regained hope for life after watching his videos.

If you are familiar with the brain-computer interface industry, it is not difficult to find that, starting from last year, tech giants in China as well as many startups have also entered the field of brain-computer interfaces. For instance, Huawei, through its Ascend AI + Brain-Computer Interface Lab, has collaborated with multiple hospitals to develop large-scale medical models; Baidu, on the other hand, has integrated its Wenxin technology with brain-computer interface techniques to explore more natural human-computer interaction methods, and so on.

Many people have asked Han Bicheng whether he is afraid that more players entering the market will intensify competition.

He smiled and said, " Giants have their advantages - they have money, technology, and users. But we have our own strengths. We've been in the business for eleven years and have interacted with thousands of users, so we know where they feel the pain and what they really need. And indeed, some things cannot simply be achieved by throwing money at them."

"An increasing number of players entering the field is not a bad thing, but rather a good thing," shared Han Bicheng. "They can accelerate the development of the entire industry and make more people aware of what brain-computer interface is. We and the giants are not in a competitive relationship, but in a cooperative one. We provide core brain-computer interface technology and products, while the giants provide platforms and users. Together, we can grow this industry."

Indeed, technology can be replicated, and data can be accumulated, but the experience gained from working closely with users, and the understanding and respect for life, can never be replicated.

03

The Underrated BrainCo: More Than a Prosthetics Company

After listening to the sharing from various executives of BrainCo, I realized that there are significant misunderstandings about BrainCo externally.

Almost everyone mentions BrainCo, the first reaction is the intelligent bionic hand. But this is only a part of their business territory. What BrainCo is truly working on is a complete system centered around non-invasive brain-computer interface technology, with the core of using technology for good, and the radius of ecology and standards. And this part is precisely what has been seriously underestimated by the outside world.

First is the medical rehabilitation sector, which is the field where BrainCo has the deepest accumulation of technology.

In addition to the well-known smart bionic hands and bionic legs, BrainCo has also launched the world's first certified hardware-software integrated product for children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) —— the Focus欣 Attention Training System.

Traditional treatment methods are mainly drug-based, but drugs have side effects, and many parents are reluctant to give medication to their children. BrainCo's neurofeedback training is a non-drug treatment method. It monitors children’s EEG signals in real time and provides positive feedback when they concentrate, helping them learn to control their attention.

Clinical data shows that the combined intervention of the Focus欣 system and medication is more effective than medication alone. They have also developed the "Starfruit" social training system for children with autism. The core issues for children with autism are social and communication barriers; they struggle to perceive others' emotions and express their own. The "Starfruit" system uses gamification to help children learn to identify and express emotions while playing games. At the same time, it monitors the child’s attention and emotional state through EEG signals and adjusts the training content in real time.

Next is the consumer health sector, which is BrainCo's fastest-growing business and the field closest to the general public.

For people with insomnia, BrainCo has launched the Easleep Dolphin Brain-Computer Intelligent Sleep Aid Device. Unlike other products on the market that merely play white noise or monitor sleep, the Dolphin Sleep Aid is equipped with a high-precision EEG detection chip that can collect users' brainwave signals in real time, accurately determine which sleep stage the user is in, and then use synchronized audio-visual interventions at specific frequencies to regulate the user's brainwaves, helping them fall asleep naturally.

Further down, in the currently booming field of embodied intelligence, BrainCo has quietly become the invisible champion of this industry.

Many people don't know that the humanoid robots performing tasks like serving tea, pouring water, and tightening screws at exhibitions mostly wear the dexterous hands produced by BrainCo.

In April this year, BrainCo released the next-generation intelligent dexterous hand, Revo 3. It has 21 active degrees of freedom, with tactile sensors covering the entire palm. Its minimum sensing scale reaches the micron level, enabling precise perception of pressure distribution and object deformation. More importantly, it features a "back-drivable" characteristic, allowing joints to passively retract when subjected to force, thereby achieving closed-loop force feedback. This enables algorithms trained in simulated environments to be directly transferred to real-world systems.

Currently, BrainCo's Revo series of dexterous hands have been adapted to orders from multiple mainstream humanoid robot manufacturers such as Leju, Unitree, and Zhiyi Power. It can be imagined that with the boom of the humanoid robotics industry, this part of the business will become BrainCo's largest growth point in the future.

"Many people say that we are a prosthetics company, but that's not true," said Han Bicheng. "We are a company that makes super sensors. Our core technology is to read brain signals. As long as we can read the brain, we can solve all brain-related problems."

We are always talking about the future of technology. We talk about artificial intelligence, about robots, about space travel, about those distant stars and vast oceans. But more often than not, we forget that the best future of technology has never been about grand narratives.

Indeed, the second half of the brain-computer interface journey has just begun, and there is still a long way to go in the future. Many technical challenges remain to be solved, and many ethical issues still need to be addressed. But as long as there are those who remember that technology is meant to serve humanity, and as long as there are those willing to strive for the well-being of ordinary people, this industry will undoubtedly have a future.

After all, all the passion will eventually fall to earth.

       Title: An Afternoon in Hangzhou, I Was Moved by a Brain-Computer Interface Company