Invasive brain-computer interface startup Initiative Tech raises 330 million yuan in record China BCI angel round | Unity Ventures portfolio newcomer
The domestic invasive brain-computer interface company with the most comprehensive product line
"Initiative Technology" today announced the completion of a 330 million RMB angel funding round with participation from Unity Ventures, setting a new record for angel-round financing in China's brain-computer interface (BCI) sector.
Founded in February 2026, Initiative Technology is a cutting-edge platform company focused on the R&D and commercialization of invasive BCI technology. It has built a three-pillar product matrix spanning motor, visual, and emotional BCIs, making it the domestic invasive BCI company with the most comprehensive product coverage.
Unity Ventures believes that Initiative Technology is a leading BCI team in China with full-stack independent R&D capabilities, and a partner we have tracked closely and developed deep trust in over the long term. We highly recognize the team's outstanding research achievements and fully support its continued growth. We look forward to the team completing the first ultra-high-channel BCI clinical implantation as soon as possible, benefiting patients with complex neurological disorders and making positive contributions to the nation's future industrial development.
On August 3, Shanghai Initiative Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Initiative Technology") announced the completion of a 330 million RMB angel funding round, setting a record for angel-round financing in China's BCI sector.
This round was led by CASSTAR, with co-investment from Legend Star, Unity Ventures, Dalton Venture, Inno Angel Fund, BGI Songhe Bio Fund, LYFE Capital, and Jiadao Capital.
The proceeds will be primarily used for facility expansion, equipment upgrades, clinical trial advancement, and team growth, comprehensively accelerating the clinical translation and industrialization of invasive BCI products.
Drawing on engineering experience and academic foundations in hardware system development, neural signal encoding and decoding algorithms, and animal validation, Initiative Technology has developed full-chain independent R&D capabilities spanning flexible electrodes, dedicated chips, decoding algorithms, and system integration, and is committed to advancing the clinical application of motor, visual, and emotional BCIs.
Currently, Initiative Technology has established a 2,500-square-meter facility combining office space and GMP workshops, and has entered a stable R&D and production phase. By the end of 2026, it expects to complete a new headquarters exceeding 10,000 square meters that includes a micro-nano processing platform, with a team of over 100 members.
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Brain-Computer Interfaces Enter a Golden Age of Development
Brain-computer interfaces are one of six future industries explicitly identified in the 15th Five-Year Plan, alongside quantum technology, biomanufacturing, hydrogen and nuclear fusion energy, Embodied Artificial Intelligence, and sixth-generation mobile communications — a core direction for national forward-looking strategic deployment.
In July 2025, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and six other ministries jointly issued the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting Innovation and Development of the Brain-Computer Interface Industry," which proposed that by 2027, key BCI technologies achieve breakthroughs and preliminary advanced technology, industrial, and standard systems are established. By 2030, 2–3 globally influential leading enterprises and a cohort of specialized and innovative SMEs are to be cultivated.
Currently, competition in the BCI industry is shifting focus from single-point technological breakthroughs to full-stack systems engineering capabilities and clinical translation speed. Teams that combine autonomous control of underlying core devices with support from national-level research platforms have become critical variables in the global BCI competitive landscape — Initiative Technology is a representative innovative enterprise of this type.
Initiative Technology's core technical team is led by three PhDs: Jing Jia, Bin Zhao, and Guoliang Yi. Meanwhile, CEO Guojia Wu has long been engaged in the development, production, and commercialization of Class III medical devices, bringing extensive industrialization experience.
Initiative Technology Core Team Members
The company's SAB (Science Advisory Board) brings together top scientists in neuroscience, flexible electrodes, software and algorithms, wireless power transfer, and optogenetic BCIs, providing sustained support for the company's technological innovation.
The combination of "scientist team + professional management team + top-tier science advisory board" gives Initiative Technology the systematic capability to continuously translate cutting-edge innovation into reliable clinical products.
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Motor, Visual, and Emotional BCIs Advance in Parallel
Currently, Initiative Technology has built a three-pillar product matrix spanning motor, visual, and emotional BCIs, making it the domestic invasive BCI company with the most comprehensive product coverage.
Among these, the motor BCI "Tianshu" targets patients with motor and speech function impairments caused by stroke, spinal cord injury, ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), and other conditions, aiming to help paralyzed patients achieve motor function reconstruction.
In November 2025, Initiative Technology's core team obtained China's first type-test report for a 1024-channel invasive BCI system — the core product "Tianshu" thus became the first 1024-channel invasive BCI system in China to pass type testing, with a channel count comparable to Neuralink's current products.
"Higher channel counts mean greater brain signal throughput and more refined information decoding capabilities, laying an autonomously controllable hardware foundation for high-bandwidth human-machine interaction," said Guojia Wu.
He noted that the "Tianshu" product is about to launch clinical trials with its 1024-channel system, and the company is poised to become the first domestic enterprise to conduct 1024-channel invasive BCI clinical trials.
Looking further ahead, while maintaining focus on serious Class III medical devices to benefit patients, Initiative Technology will also position itself in emerging industries such as artificial intelligence and Embodied Artificial Intelligence that have natural upstream-downstream synergy with BCI, bringing benefits to a broader user base.
Chengyu Li, senior researcher at Lingang Laboratory's BCI program and chief advisor to Initiative Technology's SAB, stated: "Brain-computer interfaces are one of the six future industries in the national 15th Five-Year Plan, with prominent hard-tech attributes. Invasive BCIs are a medical necessity for severe conditions, providing sufficiently precise signals for patients with spinal cord injury, ALS, and other disorders. Lingang Laboratory has achieved a series of breakthroughs in invasive BCI materials, electrodes, chips, algorithms, and system hardware and software. I am pleased to see Initiative Technology building on laboratory achievements to make sustained progress in flexible electrodes, chips, and algorithms — its 1024-channel high-throughput fully implantable system performance is quite leading. Drawing on the laboratory's accumulations in motor, visual, and emotional BCIs, Initiative Technology integrates three product lines, covering major clinical directions, giving it a unique industrial position. The industry urgently needs pilot platforms and shared datasets; Lingang Laboratory is building a one-stop R&D and testing platform, and looks forward to collaborating with Initiative Technology and other BCI enterprises to accelerate China's BCI industrialization process."
