Brain-machine firm gets major investment

StairMed, a Shanghai-based medical technology company, announced on Monday that it has raised 350 million yuan ($48 million) in Series B funding, marking the largest investment to date in China's implantable brain-machine interface industry.

The funds will be used to accelerate clinical trials, advance research and development of next-generation technologies and build a medical-grade microelectromechanical systems production facility to support commercialization efforts, the company said.

Founded in 2021, StairMed focuses on minimally invasive implantable brain-machine interface technology. Its founder, Zhao Zhengtuo, said the company's anticipated products could enable patients with conditions such as paralysis and aphasia to control mobile phones and computers using only their minds.

"By combining artificial intelligence and intelligent hardware, our products could allow these patients to control assistive devices such as embodied intelligent robots, humanoid robotic arms and intelligent wheelchairs, significantly improving their ability to live independently and participate in social life," Zhao said.

The technology could also help patients engage in online jobs such as programming, design, writing and e-sports, creating value for their families and society, he added.

The latest funding round was led by Qiming Venture Partners, OrbiMed and Lilly Asia Ventures, with previous angel investor FountainBridge Capital also participating. StairMed had previously secured hundreds of millions of yuan in Series A funding and tens of millions of yuan in angel funding.

Like Elon Musk-backed Neuralink, StairMed is pursuing an invasive brain-machine interface approach, a path with high technical and application challenges. The company aims to address the needs of patients with severe communication disorders who lack effective treatment options.

StairMed has developed China's first high-throughput, implantable brain-machine interface system that meets medical device standards, designed to help paralyzed patients perform complex brain-controlled tasks.

"This year, we plan to launch China's first prospective clinical trial for the long-term implantation of an invasive brain-machine interface, involving two to three participants," Zhao said. "By 2026, we will conduct multi-center, large-scale clinical trials in China to pave the way for medical device registration and commercialization."

The company's ultra-flexible electrode is just 1 percent the size of a human hair, one-fifth the size of Neuralink's electrode and hundreds of times softer, reducing the likelihood of brain tissue detecting the implant as a foreign object. Additionally, StairMed has developed a neural electrode interface that prevents immune scarring, ensuring long-term stability in recording neural activity.

The implant itself is half the size of Neuralink's, with a diameter comparable to a 1-yuan coin and a thickness similar to two stacked coins. The implantation procedure requires only a 3- to 5-millimeter hole in the skull, performed using minimally invasive neurosurgical puncture techniques to reduce surgical trauma and risks.

"This innovative design makes our product the smallest and least invasive implantable brain-machine interface system to date," Zhao said.

StairMed operates a 2,000-square-meter production facility in Shanghai's Pudong New Area that includes 300 square meters of clean rooms and a quality inspection laboratory. The company plans to complete China's first medical-grade brain-machine interface MEMS production base this year, enabling full-chain coverage from research and development to production and quality control.

"In the short term, StairMed will develop products for applications such as language function reconstruction, artificial hearing, facial paralysis repair and spinal cord injury repair, leveraging our core technologies, including ultra-flexible electrodes, miniaturized implants and minimally invasive techniques," Zhao said.

"In the long run, we are working on a next-generation brain-machine interface system with thousands of channels, aiming to revolutionize the efficiency of human-machine interaction," he said.

StairMed said it looks forward to collaborating with leaders in large language models and embodied intelligent robotics to explore new innovations in intelligent human-machine collaboration.

zhouwenting@chinadaily.com.cn