BrainCo Uses AI Decoding In Non-Invasive BCI Push After $280 Million Round
The Hangzhou BCI company raised 2 billion yuan, or $280 million, while building non-invasive brain-computer-interface devices that use AI decoding, according to Indian Express. Public records still lack current revenue, shipment volumes, clinical trial results, product pricing and independent validation of the AI decoding accuracy.
BrainCo is building brain-computer-interface products that read neural and muscular signals without opening the skull, using dry-electrode sensors and an AI algorithm to decode them.
The Hangzhou startup is positioning that approach as a lower-risk route into neural technology, while implant makers such as Neuralink pursue more invasive systems.
Non-invasive products
Founded in 2015 after spinning out of Harvard Innovation Labs, BrainCo develops prosthetics and wearable devices and is part of China’s official “six little dragons” group of technology startups.
Its products include bionic hands, sleep aids and headsets aimed at conditions ranging from autism and ADHD to insomnia.
The company’s bionic hands, recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, read an amputee’s neural and muscular electrical signals and translate intended movements into finger motions.
Partner and senior vice president Nyx He told Bloomberg that the bionic-hands business was “already seeing much bigger growth compared to last year.”
BrainCo’s sleep aid uses low-intensity electrical pulses to stimulate neurochemicals associated with stress relief, according to the company.
It is also developing a BCI-based treatment intended to reproduce the appetite-suppressing effects that have made GLP-1 weight-loss drugs popular.
He said that treatment is expected to reach the market in late 2027 or 2028.
Signal decoding and data controls
BCIs process brain signals and translate them into commands for external devices.
The field remains early, but recent breakthroughs have enabled people with chronic conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis to type, communicate and play video games using only brain signals.
For non-invasive systems, the main obstacle is that signals read outside the skull are subtle and noisy.
BrainCo’s dry electrode sensor is designed to capture those signals, while its AI algorithm interprets them.
A Jefferies report published on July 8 said conventional non-invasive systems remain limited by signal clarity and interpretation.
It identified invasive implants such as Neuralink products and ultrasound-based systems as the “most promising” frontiers, while citing BrainCo’s proprietary sensors, AI decoding algorithm and commercialisation record as advantages.
BrainCo says it does not collect customer data stored on users’ devices.
Information such as concentration scores could still be saved locally on its focus-training devices.
Expansion plans and funding
BrainCo plans to begin with people who need BCI technology most, including amputees in markets covered by insurance.
It also intends to expand into conditions such as ADHD and depression, target consumer electronics and license its BCI platform to other brain-technology companies.
He said, “We are not just making hands.
We believe BCI and embodied intelligence can combine and we think robots controlled by the human brain will be a focus going forward.” BrainCo recently raised 2 billion yuan, or $280 million, in a funding round co-led by IDG Capital and Walden International, the venture firm founded by Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan.
China’s BCI push
BrainCo is competing with Chinese startups including StairMed, NeuroXess and Gestala.
StairMed and NeuroXess use brain implants, while Gestala uses ultrasound to offer a broader view of the brain without surgical risk.
Neuracle Medical Technology recently received regulatory approval for what it called the world’s first minimally invasive BCI device for commercial use.
The device is designed to help people with spinal cord injuries regain some hand function.
China named BCI a strategic “future industry” in its latest Five-Year Plan.
In August 2025, seven ministries issued an implementation plan targeting key technological breakthroughs by 2027 while lowering regulatory and clinical barriers for non-invasive rehabilitation technologies.
Authorities are also connecting startups with hospitals and universities, and health authorities created a separate insurance category for BCI last year—steps that could help the technology reach patients and neurosurgeons at scale.
