What are the most valuable brain-computer interface startups?

Last updated: 10 October 2026

Cover of NewMarketPitch's Top Neurotech Companies report, 2026 edition

Is Neuralink worth more than its biggest rivals together? Yes. At its last round Neuralink was valued at about $9.0B, while its six biggest rivals with a known value add up to about $6.2B. Chart from NewMarketPitch's Neurotech report.

Is Neuralink implanting as many people as Elon Musk promised? Far from it. In July 2024 he wrote that over 1,000 implants were achievable in 2026. From January to June 2026, Neuralink implanted about six more people, 26 in all, according to reports. Its investor plan now aims for 20,000 implants a year by 2031. Chart from NewMarketPitch's Neurotech report.

Has any brain implant been approved for sale yet? Only one complete implant, in China. Neuracle’s was approved for sale in March 2026 for people with a spinal cord injury. In the US, Precision’s electrodes are cleared for less than 30 days, and Neuralink and Synchron are still in trials. Chart from NewMarketPitch's Neurotech report.

Is China now doing far more brain-computer interface deals than the US? Yes, by far. From January to September 2026, Chinese start-ups closed at least 28 funding rounds and US ones four. But US rounds are much bigger, about $200M each. Chart from NewMarketPitch's Neurotech report.

How long do brain-implant start-ups take to reach their first patient? Less and less time. Neuralink took seven and a half years and Synchron seven. Younger start-ups, in the US and in China, tested their implants in people within one to five years, often with a temporary implant first. Chart from NewMarketPitch's Neurotech report.

Does neurotech money go where the patients are? Not really. Start-ups working on paralysis recently raised about $1.8B, about $120 for each of the 15 million people living with a spinal cord injury. Depression, which affects 322 million people, drew about $160M, about 50 cents a person. Chart from NewMarketPitch's Neurotech report.

Do a handful of neurotech start-ups take most of the money? Nearly half of it. Ten of the 170 start-ups tracked raised about 48% of the $5.5B invested recently, led by Neuralink, Precision and BrainCo, three makers of brain-computer interfaces. Chart from NewMarketPitch's Neurotech report.

Beyond the US and China, where does neurotech money go? Mostly to the UK, with about $236M recently. The US took about 73% of the $5.5B raised, China about 15%, and every other country less than 2% each. Chart from NewMarketPitch's Neurotech report.

Every funding round, every investor, and who is really ahead in neurotech, in one document. Have a look ↓

Summary

Neuralink is by far the most valuable brain-computer interface startup today, with a defensible current valuation around $25 billion to $32 billion versus roughly $1.5 billion for the next-largest company.

The gap is unusually extreme even by venture-market standards. Science Corporation, BrainCo and Precision Neuroscience have reached or crossed the billion-dollar level, but none is remotely close to Neuralink's private-market pricing.

BCI is therefore much less of a broad unicorn market than the attention around it suggests. Only around four companies clearly qualify as unicorns today, with INBRAIN Neuroelectronics sitting near the threshold depending on how its valuation is estimated. Only about four companies clearly count as unicorns, so we look at the companies that lead today in our report on top neurotech companies.

The highest valuations are concentrated around medical interfaces with direct access to the nervous system. Cortical implants, retinal implants, endovascular devices and other high-bandwidth neural interfaces generally command much richer valuations than consumer EEG products.

There is one important exception: BrainCo. Its billion-dollar valuation shows that a non-invasive BCI company can reach serious scale when neurotechnology is combined with rehabilitation, prosthetics and a broader commercial product base.

Ultrasound is becoming the speculative new corner of the market. Merge Labs and Nudge have attracted unusually large amounts of capital before building the kind of long clinical history that supports companies such as Synchron or Precision.

The US still dominates the top of the valuation ranking, but China has built a deeper pipeline below it. BrainCo and Neuracle lead a growing group of Chinese companies working on flexible implants, ultrasound interfaces, neural decoding, EEG systems and brain-spinal technologies.

Funding alone does a poor job of explaining valuation. Science and Precision have each raised hundreds of millions of dollars and sit around $1 billion to $1.5 billion, while Neuralink's roughly $1.3 billion of cumulative funding supports a valuation more than twenty times larger.

That difference comes from what investors expect rather than what the companies earn today. Most leading implantable BCI startups still have little meaningful commercial revenue, so valuations depend heavily on clinical progress, regulatory milestones and expectations of much larger future markets.

For now, the BCI market looks like one giant outlier, a small emerging billion-dollar group and then a long tail of companies worth hundreds or tens of millions. The most interesting race may not be whether anyone catches Neuralink soon, but which company becomes the durable number two.

Written by the New Market Pitch teamWe track new markets so founders and investors can move faster. About us

Is Neuralink, with no sales, now worth more than Inspire, which sells $900M a year? Yes, since 2025. Inspire, which sells implants against sleep apnea, was worth about $9.6B at its mid-2023 peak and $2.1B today. Neuralink, which sells nothing yet, went from about $5B to $9.0B at its June 2025 round. Chart from NewMarketPitch's Neurotech report.

We keep an up-to-date report on neurotech. Have a look ↓

Sample pages from an earlier edition. The report has been updated with new data since.

Top startups in the brain-computer interface market ranked by valuation

Here is an updated table that ranks the top startups in the brain-computer interface market based on their latest reported or estimated valuations.

If you need to dig deeper and get more detailed data, please check our report on neurotech funding, valuations and who's ahead.

#	Startup Name	What They Do	Current Valuation ($)	Valuation Confidence Level	Valuation Type	Evidence Status	Total Funding ($)	Funding Confidence Level
1	Neuralink	Implantable high-bandwidth brain interfaces	$25.0B–$32.0B	Strong Confidence	Proxy-Based Estimate	Estimated	$1.33B	Full Confidence
2	Science Corporation	Neural implants and vision restoration	$1.5B	Full Confidence	Announced Private Round Valuation	Observed	~$490M	Strong Confidence
3	BrainCo	Non-invasive BCI and neuroprosthetics	$1.0B–$1.3B	Strong Confidence	Announced Private Round Valuation	Observed	$528M	Full Confidence
4	INBRAIN Neuroelectronics	Graphene-based implantable neural interfaces	$0.8B–$1.5B	Partial Confidence	Active Raise Valuation	Implied	~$100M	Strong Confidence
5	Precision Neuroscience	Minimally invasive cortical BCI implants	$1.0B	Full Confidence	Announced Private Round Valuation	Observed	$430M	Full Confidence
6	Ceribell	Rapid bedside EEG monitoring	$898M	Full Confidence	Public Market Cap	Observed	$158M	Full Confidence
7	Synchron	Endovascular implantable brain-computer interface	$820M–$900M	Strong Confidence	Announced Private Round Valuation	Observed	$345M	Full Confidence
8	Merge Labs	Ultrasound-based brain-computer interface research	$820M–$880M	Strong Confidence	Announced Private Round Valuation	Observed	$252M	Full Confidence
9	bciflex Medical	Flexible invasive neural interface systems	$600M–$1.0B	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	>$168M	Strong Confidence
10	Neuracle Technology (Shanghai)	Clinical BCI and EEG systems	$700M–$850M	Partial Confidence	IPO or Listing Range Valuation	Estimated	≥$100M	Strong Confidence
11	CTRL-labs	Neural wristband computer control	$500M–$1.0B	Strong Confidence	Acquisition Value	Observed	$67M	Full Confidence
12	Nudge	Non-invasive ultrasound brain interface	$500M–$800M	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	$100M	Full Confidence
13	StairMed	Implantable BCI and surgical robotics	$500M–$800M	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	$121M	Full Confidence
14	Paradromics	High-bandwidth implantable neural interfaces	$450M–$600M	Strong Confidence	Announced Private Round Valuation	Estimated	~$105M	Strong Confidence
15	NeuroPace	Responsive epilepsy neurostimulation implants	$430M	Full Confidence	Public Market Cap	Observed	$278M	Full Confidence
16	Blackrock Neurotech	Implantable high-bandwidth neural interfaces	$300M–$420M	Partial Confidence	Comparables-Based Estimate	Estimated	~$227M+	Strong Confidence
17	Axoft	Soft implantable neural interfaces	$280M–$380M	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	$74M	Full Confidence
18	Gestala	Ultrasound non-invasive brain interfaces	$250M–$400M	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	$84M	Full Confidence
19	Arfysica / Shuli Innovation	Clinical multimodal BCI systems	$220M–$350M	Low Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Estimated	~$91M	Partial Confidence
20	Mindtrix	Implantable visual restoration interfaces	$210M–$350M	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	$74M	Full Confidence
21	Echo Neurotechnologies	BCIs restoring conversational communication	$200M–$320M	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Estimated	$50M	Full Confidence
22	Neurable	EEG-enabled consumer neurotechnology	$200M–$300M	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Estimated	$63M	Full Confidence
23	Active Technology	Invasive clinical BCI systems	$185M–$310M	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	$46M	Full Confidence
24	Shenfu Jianxing	Implantable brain-spinal interface systems	$170M–$280M	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	>$42M	Strong Confidence
25	ONWARD Medical	Spinal-cord stimulation and BCI	$201M	Full Confidence	Public Market Cap	Observed	$32M+	Strong Confidence
26	Kernel	Non-invasive brain measurement systems	$120M–$200M	Low Confidence	Comparables-Based Estimate	Estimated	$158M	Full Confidence
27	BCI-Sonics / Huachao Shenkong	Focused-ultrasound non-invasive BCI	$120M–$180M	Strong Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	~$45M cumulative	Strong Confidence
28	Weiling Medical	Implantable medical BCI systems	$100M–$170M	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	>$28M	Strong Confidence
29	Newronika	Deep-brain stimulation closed-loop systems	$95M–$150M	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	~$14M	Strong Confidence
30	NeuroXess	Implantable flexible-electrode BCI systems	$90M–$150M	Partial Confidence	Comparables-Based Estimate	Estimated	$29M	Full Confidence
31	WE-LINKING Medical	Fully implantable medical BCI	$90M–$130M	Strong Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	>$30M est.	Partial Confidence
32	NextSense	EEG-enabled smart earbuds	$80M–$120M	Strong Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	~$31M	Strong Confidence
33	Subsense	Nanoparticle-based non-invasive neural interfaces	$80M–$110M	Strong Confidence	Announced Private Round Valuation	Estimated	$27M	Full Confidence
34	Neuroelectrics	Personalized non-invasive brain stimulation	$70M–$105M	Partial Confidence	Comparables-Based Estimate	Estimated	$18M	Full Confidence
35	Saluda Medical	Closed-loop spinal-cord stimulation	$80M	Full Confidence	Public Market Cap	Observed	$533M	Full Confidence
36	Intellizon Medical / Ruiyi Xulian	Bidirectional implantable brain-spinal interfaces	$65M–$95M	Strong Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	>$15M	Strong Confidence
37	CorTec	Fully implantable bidirectional BCI	$60M–$100M	Partial Confidence	Comparables-Based Estimate	Estimated	$22M	Full Confidence
38	Xinsheng Shijie	Invasive BCI neural interfaces	$55M–$90M	Strong Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	~$15M	Strong Confidence
39	Elemind Technologies	AI brainwave-modulation wearable	$45M–$75M	Partial Confidence	Comparables-Based Estimate	Estimated	$12M	Full Confidence
40	Naosi Technology / Brainsmart	Minimally invasive speech BCI	$45M–$70M	Strong Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	>$10M	Strong Confidence
41	Neurode	Noninvasive ADHD neurostimulation wearable	$45M–$60M	Strong Confidence	Comparables-Based Estimate	Estimated	≈$13.5M	Strong Confidence
42	Neiry	Consumer and medical BCI devices	$48M–$53M	Strong Confidence	Announced Private Round Valuation	Observed	~$13M	Strong Confidence
43	Arctop	AI brain-signal decoding software	$40M–$60M	Partial Confidence	Comparables-Based Estimate	Estimated	≈$14M–$16M	Strong Confidence
44	Coherence Neuro	Closed-loop therapeutic neural implants	$40M–$55M	Strong Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	~$12M	Strong Confidence
45	Naociyuan	EEG emotion and sleep products	$43M–$47M	Strong Confidence	Announced Private Round Valuation	Observed	~$9M+	Strong Confidence
46	Cognixion	Assistive EEG communication platform	$35M–$55M	Partial Confidence	Comparables-Based Estimate	Estimated	$32M	Full Confidence
47	EMOTIV	Wearable EEG and brain analytics	$30M–$60M	Low Confidence	Revenue or ARR Multiple Estimate	Estimated	~$12M	Strong Confidence
48	Inner Cosmos	Implantable depression neurostimulation device	$35M–$50M	Partial Confidence	Comparables-Based Estimate	Estimated	$14.6M	Full Confidence
49	Neurosoft Bioelectronics	Soft minimally invasive brain electrodes	$30M–$45M	Strong Confidence	Comparables-Based Estimate	Estimated	>$20M	Strong Confidence
50	Flow Neuroscience	Home depression brain stimulation	$30M–$45M	Partial Confidence	Comparables-Based Estimate	Estimated	$11.9M	Full Confidence
51	NeuroSky	Consumer EEG sensing platforms	$25M–$50M	Low Confidence	Revenue or ARR Multiple Estimate	Estimated	$12.1M	Full Confidence
52	MindMaze	Digital neurorehabilitation and neurotechnology	$30M	Full Confidence	Public Market Cap	Observed	$349M	Full Confidence
53	Jinnao Medical Technology	High-density implantable BCI electrodes	$22M–$38M	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	~$4M–$7M	Partial Confidence
54	Egra AI	EEG foundation models	$22M–$37M	Strong Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	$5.5M	Full Confidence
55	g.tec medical engineering	Clinical and research BCI systems	$22M–$35M	Partial Confidence	Comparables-Based Estimate	Estimated	≈$3.8M grants	Strong Confidence
56	LIFESCAPES	BCI stroke rehabilitation devices	$22M–$32M	Partial Confidence	Comparables-Based Estimate	Estimated	~$11M–$12M	Strong Confidence
57	Neuralicorn / Westlake Lingxi	Neural chips and speech decoding	$20M–$35M	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	~$6M–$10M	Partial Confidence
58	Neurorevix / Tianfukang Medical	Closed-loop precision neuromodulation BCI	$20M–$34M	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	~$8M–$12M	Partial Confidence
59	Neurotechnology UAB	Biometrics, AI and BCI technology	$20M–$30M	Strong Confidence	Revenue or ARR Multiple Estimate	Estimated	Undisclosed / bootstrapped	Low Confidence
60	Zhongke Yixiang	Minimally invasive implantable BCI	$18M–$32M	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	~$7M–$11M	Partial Confidence
61	Synchrony Medical	Home airway-clearance medical device	$20M–$30M	Strong Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	$9M	Full Confidence
62	JiMED	Wireless implantable communication BCI	$18M–$30M	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	~$7M–$8M	Strong Confidence
63	NeuroDance / Shenwu Technology	Consumer EEG and BCI systems	$18M–$30M	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	~$4M–$7M	Partial Confidence
64	Omni-Intelligence	EEG foundation models and BCI	$17M–$29M	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	~$4M–$7M	Partial Confidence
65	OpenBCI	Open-source biosensing and BCI hardware	$15M–$30M	Low Confidence	Revenue or ARR Multiple Estimate	Estimated	$4M	Full Confidence
66	Shenji Miaokong	Closed-loop implantable neural interfaces	$16M–$28M	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	~$7M–$11M	Partial Confidence
67	Sisheng Technology	Ultrasound brain-computer interface platform	$15M–$27M	Low Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	~$7M–$11M	Low Confidence
68	CereSonix / Brain Device Era	Non-invasive ultrasound BCI systems	$14M–$25M	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	~$4M–$7M	Partial Confidence
69	Full-Brain Core Technology	Flexible CMOS neural interfaces	$14M–$24M	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	~$4M–$7M	Partial Confidence
70	SensingX	BCI signal-processing chips	$12M–$22M	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	>$5M est.	Partial Confidence
71	NextMind	Visual-attention brain interface	$13M–$20M	Low Confidence	Acquisition Value	Estimated	$5M	Full Confidence
72	SynchNeuro	EEG-based metabolic health monitoring	$12M–$16M	Strong Confidence	Comparables-Based Estimate	Estimated	$3M	Full Confidence
73	Nexstem	Non-invasive BCI hardware platform	$9M–$11M	Strong Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	~$5M–$6M	Strong Confidence
74	IDUN Technologies	Ear-EEG neural wearables	$7M–$11M	Partial Confidence	Comparables-Based Estimate	Estimated	$3.9M	Full Confidence
75	Shanghai Brain Rhythm Technology	In-ear EEG health wearables	$6M–$10M	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	≈$1.4M	Strong Confidence
76	Bitbrain	B2B EEG neurotechnology systems	$5M–$10M	Low Confidence	Revenue or ARR Multiple Estimate	Estimated	<$1M disclosed	Partial Confidence
77	PengNao Technology	EEG multimodal cognitive interfaces	$4M–$10M	Low Confidence	Proxy-Based Estimate	Estimated	Undisclosed	Low Confidence
78	MindAffect	EEG hearing and vision diagnostics	$5M–$8M	Partial Confidence	Comparables-Based Estimate	Estimated	~$4M	Strong Confidence
79	Xinghui Zhongyue	Non-invasive brain-computer interfaces	$5M–$8M	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	~$1.5M	Strong Confidence
80	Prophetic	Lucid-dream neurostimulation headset	$4M–$8M	Low Confidence	Comparables-Based Estimate	Estimated	$1.1M	Full Confidence
81	AciMicro / Guangzhou Ximang Medical	Neurotechnology medical interface systems	$3M–$9M	Low Confidence	Proxy-Based Estimate	Estimated	Undisclosed	Low Confidence
82	Braingrade	Cognitive-enhancement brain implant	$4M–$7M	Low Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Estimated	$1M	Full Confidence
83	REMspace	Sleep and lucid-dream technology	$4M–$7M	Partial Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	$1M	Full Confidence
84	UCANACT Holding	BCI communication for paralysis	$4M–$6M	Strong Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	~$0.9M	Strong Confidence
85	Shenyi Technology	Brain-computer interface technology	$3M–$8M	Low Confidence	Proxy-Based Estimate	Estimated	Undisclosed	Low Confidence
86	BrainAccess	Portable EEG and BCI tools	$3M–$6M	Low Confidence	Proxy-Based Estimate	Estimated	$0 standalone disclosed	Low Confidence
87	Cogwear	Clinical-grade cognitive EEG headband	$2M–$6M	Low Confidence	Proxy-Based Estimate	Estimated	≥$0.36M disclosed	Partial Confidence
88	Insellar	BCI therapy for depression	$2M–$3M	Strong Confidence	Implied Valuation from Raise	Implied	$0.5M	Strong Confidence
89	MindPortal	Wearable thought-to-action interface	$0M–$2M	Low Confidence	Proxy-Based Estimate	Estimated	$5.1M	Full Confidence

Neuralink is by far the most valuable brain-computer interface company today, with a defensible current valuation range around $25 billion to $32 billion in our ranking, while every other BCI company remains around $1.5 billion or below.

The gap is enormous. Science Corporation sits in second place at $1.5 billion following its latest financing. BrainCo is around $1.0 billion to $1.3 billion, Precision Neuroscience has just crossed roughly $1 billion, and INBRAIN Neuroelectronics can plausibly sit somewhere around the same territory depending on how its more recent financing discussions are valued.

After that, the market quickly drops below $1 billion. Synchron and Merge Labs sit around the $800 million range, while companies such as Paradromics, Blackrock Neurotech, Nudge and several fast-growing Chinese BCI developers occupy the hundreds-of-millions tier.

BCI is still a very large universe of relatively small neurotechnology companies surrounding one extraordinary outlier.

Company	Current valuation	Main BCI approach	Valuation evidence
Neuralink	$25B–$32B	Invasive cortical implant	Secondary/proxy estimate
Science Corporation	$1.5B	Neural and retinal implants	Recent priced round
BrainCo	$1.0B–$1.3B	Non-invasive BCI, neuroprosthetics	Recent financing
Precision Neuroscience	~$1.0B	Cortical surface implant	Recent priced round
INBRAIN Neuroelectronics	$0.8B–$1.5B	Graphene neural interface	Financing-based estimate
Ceribell	~$0.9B	Clinical EEG monitoring	Public market value
Synchron	$0.82B–$0.90B	Endovascular BCI implant	Financing evidence
Merge Labs	$0.82B–$0.88B	Ultrasound neural interface	Financing evidence
Neuracle Technology	~$0.7B–$0.85B	Clinical BCI and EEG	Financing/listing evidence
Paradromics	~$0.45B–$0.60B	High-bandwidth cortical implant	Financing-based estimate

How expensive are neurotech companies, measured by their sales? Not the listed ones. Neurotech stocks are worth 2 to 10 times their yearly sales, like most companies. The bubble is in brain implants, with China’s Neuracle at about 35 times its sales and Neuralink at $9B without sales. Chart from NewMarketPitch's Neurotech report.

Is Neuralink, with no sales, worth more than neurotech firms that sell? Yes, more than at least four of them together. Inspire, Ceribell, BrainsWay and NeuroPace sell about $1.2B of devices a year and are worth about $4.1B on the stock market, while Neuralink was valued at about $9.0B. Chart from NewMarketPitch's Neurotech report.

These pages are excerpts from our report. See the rest ↓

Sample pages from an earlier edition. The report has been updated with new data since.

Is Neuralink really worth twenty times more than other BCI startups?

Neuralink really does trade at a radically higher valuation than the rest of the BCI market, although the exact multiple depends on whether we use its last financing or today's much hotter secondary-market pricing.

The cleanest historical anchor is much lower than our current estimate. Neuralink raised roughly $650 million in its Series E after reporting around $600 million of the financing at a $9 billion pre-money valuation. That deal already represented a huge jump from the roughly $5 billion secondary-market value Reuters had reported in 2023. Neuralink's value rose from $5 billion to $9 billion, and we show what each company is worth, then and now, in our neurotech report.

Private-market pricing subsequently accelerated again. More recent secondary transactions have implied values around the high-$20 billions to low-$40 billions, with some prospective buyers reportedly willing to transact even higher. Our $25 billion to $32 billion range is deliberately more conservative than the most aggressive private-market quotes.

There is real progress behind part of the premium. Neuralink had moved from three implanted participants around its 2025 financing to 21 announced participants by early 2026. The company has several clinical programs, substantial vertical integration and a plan described in investor materials that targets around 20,000 implants annually and at least $1 billion of annual revenue by 2031.

Science Corporation's $1.5 billion valuation means that even the second-largest directly observed private valuation in this market is roughly 95% below Neuralink's current estimated value. Neuralink is in its own valuation category.

How many BCI unicorns are there today?

We can identify roughly four clear BCI unicorns today, with a fifth possible depending on how narrowly we define the market and how much weight we give to estimated valuations.

Neuralink easily qualifies. Science Corporation has a directly reported $1.5 billion valuation. Precision Neuroscience recently reached just over $1 billion after its $250 million Series D. BrainCo's recent financing evidence also puts it around the $1 billion threshold.

INBRAIN Neuroelectronics is the borderline case. The company is substantial enough to appear in the same conversation, but its $0.8 billion to $1.5 billion current range relies more heavily on financing and market evidence than on a cleanly disclosed $1 billion priced round.

So despite the attention surrounding BCI, the unicorn club is still tiny.

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Sample pages from an earlier edition. The report has been updated with new data since.

Why is Science Corporation already worth $1.5 billion?

Science Corporation reached a $1.5 billion valuation because investors are funding something much closer to a commercial medical-device platform than an early brain-interface experiment.

Its latest Series C raised $230 million. Reporting around the transaction placed the post-money valuation at $1.5 billion and total funding at roughly $489 million. Science's $230 million Series C is one chapter in a longer story, and we look at who has raised the most in our report on neurotech.

The important detail is what Science has already acquired and built. Its lead product, PRIMA, is a subretinal implant paired with camera-equipped glasses and aimed at restoring useful vision in people with severe retinal disease. Science acquired the PRIMA assets from Pixium Vision and has moved the system considerably closer to commercialization than most experimental BCIs.

Clinical evidence has also reduced some of the usual BCI uncertainty. In trials involving dozens of patients with geographic atrophy, the majority achieved meaningful visual improvement, including the ability to recognize letters, numbers and words.

Science is simultaneously developing more ambitious brain-interface technology, giving it a relatively near-term medical product alongside a much broader neural-interface platform.

Is Precision Neuroscience becoming a real Neuralink rival?

Precision Neuroscience has become one of the strongest clinical BCI companies, but calling it a valuation rival to Neuralink still goes too far.

The company's latest funding round changed its position materially. Precision closed an oversubscribed $250 million Series D, bringing total capital raised to roughly $430 million and valuing the company at just over $1 billion.

The operating progress behind the financing is unusually tangible for BCI. Precision says its technology has been involved in more than 100 patient procedures across 18 medical institutions. Its Layer 7 Cortical Interface uses a thin electrode array placed on the brain's surface rather than electrodes penetrating deeply into brain tissue.

Precision has also obtained FDA clearance for temporary use of its cortical interface, partnered with Medtronic and built its own MEMS manufacturing capability in Texas.

The valuation gap is still huge. A roughly $1 billion Precision valuation versus $25 billion to $32 billion for Neuralink leaves more than a twenty-fold difference.

Why has BrainCo become one of the world's most valuable BCI companies?

BrainCo has reached the billion-dollar tier because it has combined neurotechnology with a much broader commercial footprint than most pure implant developers.

The Chinese company works across non-invasive brain-computer interfaces, rehabilitation devices, prosthetic control and neurotechnology products rather than relying on a single experimental implant program.

Recent financing has also been unusually large for the sector. Available deal evidence places BrainCo's latest valuation around $1.0 billion to $1.3 billion and cumulative funding above $500 million. The company has also been preparing for a possible Hong Kong listing, with Bloomberg reporting that it confidentially filed for an IPO.

BrainCo represents a different route to BCI scale. Neuralink, Synchron and Paradromics largely attract attention through invasive neural interfaces. BrainCo can build revenue and distribution around non-invasive products, rehabilitation and robotic prosthetics while more ambitious neural-interface applications mature.

Its valuation is less dependent on one future surgical product succeeding.

How many people carry a brain implant from the best-funded start-ups? Very few, about 21 people for Neuralink and 10 for Synchron after raising hundreds of millions, and none for good at Precision. Two Chinese state-backed teams have implanted more. Chart from NewMarketPitch's Neurotech report.

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Sample pages from an earlier edition. The report has been updated with new data since.

Are Synchron and Merge Labs really worth about the same amount?

Synchron and Merge Labs currently fall into a similar $800 million-plus valuation tier, but investors are paying for almost opposite things.

Synchron is much further along clinically. Its Stentrode system places electrodes through blood vessels rather than requiring open-brain surgery, and the company has already accumulated years of human implant experience. Synchron raised $200 million in a Series D to advance its BCI technology and commercialization effort.

Merge Labs is much younger and far more speculative. The company has explored approaches involving ultrasound and biological techniques intended to create high-bandwidth neural interfaces while reducing the need for conventional electrodes. Pricing a young, speculative company beside an experienced one is a big call, and we look at who bets biggest in our neurotech market report.

What Merge already has is extraordinary backing. The company raised $252 million, with Sam Altman among its founders and OpenAI connected to the venture. Earlier financing discussions had valued the young company around $850 million.

Synchron is priced on clinical de-risking. Merge is being priced on the chance that a very different architecture works. Same valuation neighborhood, very different bet.

Which BCI startups have raised the most money, and does that make them more valuable?

Neuralink has raised more capital than any other core BCI startup in our dataset, but funding and valuation only move together up to a point.

Neuralink's cumulative funding is around $1.3 billion after its $650 million Series E. BrainCo is above $500 million, Science has raised around $489 million, and Precision is now around $430 million.

Synchron has accumulated roughly $345 million, Merge Labs has already raised $252 million, and Blackrock Neurotech received a $200 million strategic investment from Tether alone.

Those figures reflect how expensive BCI development is. Implantable neural devices require hardware engineering, specialized manufacturing, clinical trials, surgical workflows, regulatory work and years of research before meaningful revenue can appear.

Still, funding is a poor shortcut for valuation. Science has raised almost half a billion dollars and is worth $1.5 billion. Precision has raised around $430 million and is worth roughly $1 billion. Synchron's roughly $345 million of capital sits against a valuation below $1 billion.

Neuralink breaks the pattern completely. Its roughly $1.3 billion in cumulative funding represents only around 4% to 5% of our current valuation estimate. Investors are paying for expected future dominance, not for the amount of capital already invested.

Company	Approx. funding	Current valuation	Funding as share of valuation
Neuralink	$1.33B	$25B–$32B	~4%–5%
BrainCo	$528M	$1.0B–$1.3B	~41%–53%
Science Corporation	~$489M	$1.5B	~33%
Precision Neuroscience	~$430M	~$1.0B	~43%
Synchron	~$345M	$820M–$900M	~38%–42%
Merge Labs	$252M	$820M–$880M	~29%–31%
Blackrock Neurotech	~$227M+	$300M–$420M	~54%–76%
INBRAIN Neuroelectronics	~$100M	$800M–$1.5B	~7%–13%
Paradromics	~$105M	$450M–$600M	~18%–23%
Nudge	$100M	$500M–$800M	~13%–20%

Who is really ahead, Neuralink or China’s Neuracle? Neuracle got there first. China approved its brain implant in March 2026, and it has implanted 44 people and sold 13 devices. Neuralink reads the brain far more finely and is valued over 15 times higher, but nothing is approved yet. Chart from NewMarketPitch's Neurotech report.

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Are invasive BCI startups worth more than non-invasive BCI companies?

The highest BCI valuations currently belong overwhelmingly to companies willing to interact much more directly with the nervous system.

Neuralink uses implanted electrodes. Science is building implantable neural technologies and has a retinal implant approaching commercialization. Precision places an electrode array directly on the cortical surface. Synchron implants its device through the vasculature. INBRAIN uses graphene interfaces for direct neural recording and stimulation.

Non-invasive companies can still build meaningful businesses. BrainCo is the strongest exception, while Neurable, NextSense, EMOTIV, NeuroSky and OpenBCI have developed products around EEG, wearables or research platforms.

The valuation gap is striking. Most consumer-oriented EEG companies in our ranking sit below $300 million, and many are below $100 million. Investors are far more willing to assign billion-dollar outcomes to technologies that could restore communication, vision or motor function through high-quality neural access.

Surgery brings much harder safety, regulatory and adoption problems, though, so those larger valuations come with a very different execution burden.

BCI approach	Representative company	Approx. valuation
Penetrating implant	Neuralink	$25B–$32B
Retinal/neural implant	Science Corporation	$1.5B
Cortical surface implant	Precision Neuroscience	~$1.0B
Endovascular implant	Synchron	$820M–$900M
Graphene implant	INBRAIN	$800M–$1.5B
Non-invasive BCI/prosthetics	BrainCo	$1.0B–$1.3B
Ultrasound interface	Merge Labs	$820M–$880M
EEG consumer neurotech	Neurable	$200M–$300M
EEG earbuds	NextSense	$80M–$120M
Open EEG hardware	OpenBCI	$15M–$30M

Are ultrasound brain interfaces becoming the next big BCI category?

Ultrasound has become one of the hottest new BCI architectures, although its valuations are moving faster than its clinical proof.

Merge Labs is the clearest example. A company that barely existed as a public-facing business attracted $252 million and quickly entered the same valuation tier as Synchron, a company with years of implant experience.

Nudge raised $100 million to develop an ultrasound-based brain interface and integrated hardware, software and neuroscience stack. Gestala then emerged in China and raised roughly $21.6 million only a couple of months after launching, with its founder describing a valuation around $100 million to $200 million.

Our broader dataset contains several more ultrasound-focused companies, including BCI-Sonics, Sisheng Technology and CereSonix. There are enough of them now that this looks like an actual category rather than a few isolated experiments.

The attraction is straightforward. Focused ultrasound could potentially interact with neural activity without leaving conventional electrode arrays implanted in brain tissue.

For now, the category is early. The money is already there; the human performance data still has to catch up.

Who is betting on brain implants besides venture firms? Tech giants, billionaires and state funds. OpenAI wrote the biggest check in Merge Labs’ first round, Tether bought control of Blackrock Neurotech, Jeff Bezos backs Synchron, and Alibaba and Tencent back StairMed. Chart from NewMarketPitch's Neurotech report.

Are new neurotech start-ups now starting with giant rounds? A few are. The typical first round is about $3M, but Merge Labs started with $252M in January 2026, about 78 typical first rounds, and Nudge with $100M in 2025. Both are backed by investors known for AI. Chart from NewMarketPitch's Neurotech report.

Who is fighting on which front of neurotech? Brain implants and interfaces without surgery are races between US start-ups and Chinese rivals. Listed medtech companies hold stimulators and epilepsy, where start-ups are rare. Chart from NewMarketPitch's Neurotech report.

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Is China catching the US in brain-computer interface startups?

China has built the deeper emerging BCI startup pipeline, while the United States still controls almost all of the very highest valuations.

The US currently has Neuralink, Science Corporation, Precision Neuroscience, Synchron, Merge Labs, Paradromics, Blackrock Neurotech and Nudge among the most heavily funded names in the sector.

China's strength appears when we move further down the ranking. BrainCo has reached the billion-dollar level. Neuracle is approaching the upper hundreds of millions, while companies such as bciflex Medical, Gestala, NeuroXess, StairMed, Shenfu Jianxing and a long group of younger domestic BCI developers have attracted fresh capital. Fresh capital is reaching many younger Chinese developers, so we ask who is ahead in our report on top neurotech companies.

Our dataset contains more Chinese companies across the sub-$500 million range than any other country. Several approaches are being pursued simultaneously: flexible electrodes, minimally invasive implants, ultrasound, brain-spinal interfaces, clinical EEG systems and neural decoding chips.

The US has stronger financial concentration at the top, especially because Neuralink alone dwarfs the entire Chinese cohort by valuation. China has more visible density further down the market.

Company	Geography	Approx. valuation	Main approach
Neuralink	United States	$25B–$32B	Implantable BCI
Science Corporation	United States	$1.5B	Neural/retinal implants
BrainCo	China/US	$1.0B–$1.3B	Non-invasive BCI
Precision Neuroscience	United States	~$1.0B	Cortical interface
Synchron	US/Australia	$820M–$900M	Endovascular BCI
Neuracle Technology	China	$700M–$850M	Clinical BCI/EEG
bciflex Medical	China	$600M–$1.0B	Flexible implant
Nudge	United States	$500M–$800M	Ultrasound BCI
StairMed	China	$500M–$800M	Implantable BCI
Gestala	China	~$100M–$200M+	Ultrasound BCI

Which BCI startups have increased their valuations most recently?

Precision Neuroscience currently has one of the clearest recent valuation jumps among major BCI companies, while Neuralink's private secondary market has produced the most dramatic repricing.

Precision's earlier financing placed the company around the mid-hundreds of millions. Its new $250 million Series D brought the valuation to just over $1 billion, roughly doubling its value over a relatively short period.

Neuralink's movement has been even more extreme. Reuters reported a roughly $5 billion secondary valuation in 2023, followed by a 2025 financing around $9 billion pre-money. More recent secondary pricing has implied values far above $20 billion.

Science Corporation provides another useful benchmark because its latest $230 million round established a fresh $1.5 billion private-market valuation rather than relying on a model.

BrainCo has also moved into the billion-dollar range following major new financing while preparing for a possible Hong Kong IPO.

The repricing is concentrated around a short list of companies. It has not lifted the whole BCI market equally.

Who is buying neurotech start-ups, and for how much? The medical giants that already sell stimulation devices. Boston Scientific paid $3.7B for Axonics in 2024, Medtronic $650M for SPR in 2026. No maker of brain implants has been bought recently. Chart from NewMarketPitch's Neurotech report.

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Why are private BCI startups worth more than some public neurotechnology companies?

Private BCI investors are currently willing to pay far more for future platform potential than public markets pay for several neurotechnology businesses with real products and revenue.

Consider NeuroPace. The company sells an FDA-approved responsive neurostimulation system for epilepsy and generated $22.8 million of quarterly revenue in its latest reported quarter, with core RNS revenue growing more than 20%. Its public-market value recently sat around the mid-$400 million range. NeuroPace's core revenue growing more than 20% is solid, and we follow who is growing the fastest in our top neurotech companies report.

Ceribell sells rapid EEG technology and has a public valuation around $900 million. ONWARD Medical, whose technology includes brain-controlled spinal stimulation research, has traded around only a few hundred million dollars. Saluda Medical has traded even lower.

Meanwhile, experimental private companies such as Merge Labs can approach $850 million before producing anything like NeuroPace's established commercial revenue.

Public markets price revenue, margins, reimbursement, operating losses and quarterly growth immediately. Private investors can spend much longer pricing a market that may exist years from now.

Are medical BCI companies more valuable than consumer neurotech companies?

Medical applications currently capture most of the serious BCI valuation premium.

At the high end, investors are backing technologies that could restore computer control for paralysis, return functional vision, enable communication for people who cannot speak or connect the brain directly with therapeutic stimulation.

Consumer neurotechnology sits much lower. Neurable has built EEG-enabled headphones and licensing technology, yet our valuation estimate remains roughly $200 million to $300 million. NextSense, which is putting EEG sensors inside earbuds, sits closer to $80 million to $120 million. EMOTIV and NeuroSky are generally in the tens of millions in our estimates.

A medically meaningful implant may eventually command pricing comparable with sophisticated medical devices, procedures and ongoing clinical care. Consumer EEG hardware competes with normal electronics and has to convince people to pay for features that are often useful rather than life-changing.

Consumer BCI could eventually become much larger in unit volume. Today's valuations clearly favor medical use cases.

What separates a $500 million BCI startup from a $50 million one?

Clinical validation, regulatory progress, capital access and the depth of the neural interface explain most of the difference between the upper and lower valuation tiers.

A company worth several hundred million dollars usually has at least two of those four elements. Paradromics has advanced implant technology, FDA progress and significant funding. Nudge has an unusually large financing and a high-profile team. Synchron has substantial human data. Blackrock Neurotech has decades of BCI experience and a $200 million strategic investment.

Around $50 million, companies are more often still proving either the technology or the business. Elemind has a consumer brain-modulation wearable. Cognixion is building EEG-based assistive communication. Inner Cosmos is developing implantable neuromodulation for depression. Neurosoft Bioelectronics is working on soft electrodes.

Below roughly $20 million, we increasingly find research hardware businesses, very early financing rounds and companies for which reliable financial evidence is sparse.

Is neurotech money moving to brain-computer interfaces? Yes, since 2025. Start-ups building them raised about $1.4B in 2026 so far, about three times more than those making stimulation devices, which hospitals already buy. Chart from NewMarketPitch's Neurotech report.

Do implants take the money while headsets make the sales? Yes. Implants took about 70% of the $3.1B recently raised by brain-computer interface start-ups. Yet research firms say headsets and other devices that need no surgery make 60% to 88% of the market’s sales. Chart from NewMarketPitch's Neurotech report.

From our neurotech report, updated regularly. Have a look ↓

Sample pages from an earlier edition. The report has been updated with new data since.

Is BCI becoming an AI market as much as a medical-device market?

AI is becoming deeply intertwined with BCI, but the companies attracting the largest valuations still need difficult hardware and medical capabilities that software alone cannot replace.

A modern neural interface generates complex biological data that must be decoded continuously. Better machine-learning models can convert noisy neural activity into intended cursor movements, speech, movement or other usable outputs. Machine-learning decoders for noisy neural activity are one technology to watch, and we look at which technologies are gaining traction in our neurotech report.

The connection is becoming more visible at the company level. Merge Labs has obvious ties to the AI ecosystem through Sam Altman. Neuralink's longer-term pitch increasingly involves interaction between biological intelligence and artificial intelligence. Science, Precision and Paradromics all rely heavily on sophisticated neural decoding.

New companies are going further. Egra AI and Omni-Intelligence are explicitly developing foundation-model-style systems around EEG or neural data.

But the hard parts of high-value BCI remain stubbornly physical: making electrodes survive inside the body, avoiding infection and tissue damage, implanting devices safely, producing them consistently and satisfying medical regulators.

Are BCI investors betting on healthcare or human augmentation?

Healthcare is paying the bills for today's BCI development, while human augmentation provides much of the optionality behind the largest valuations.

The products entering human trials are overwhelmingly medical. Neuralink initially targets paralysis and communication. Synchron focuses on restoring computer access. Paradromics targets severe communication impairment. Science's most advanced program addresses blindness. Precision is developing clinical neural interfaces.

Surgery is easier to justify when the alternative is severe disability, and medical applications provide measurable endpoints that regulators can evaluate.

The much larger vision comes afterward. Neuralink has openly discussed broader applications beyond disability. Merge Labs was conceived around more seamless interaction between humans and computers. Consumer and workplace neurotechnology companies are already testing less invasive versions of that idea.

Neuralink's valuation makes much more sense through that lens. A business aimed only at today's small population of initial clinical-trial candidates would struggle to justify a value approaching tens of billions of dollars.

Are BCI valuations getting ahead of actual revenue?

Yes. The upper end of the BCI market is valued far ahead of its commercial revenue, and that is one of the biggest risks in the ranking.

Most leading implantable BCI companies generate little or no meaningful product revenue today. Their valuations come from technology, clinical milestones, intellectual property, teams, regulatory progress and expectations of enormous future markets.

Neuralink makes the gap especially visible. Investor materials reported by Bloomberg envision at least $1 billion of annual revenue by 2031 and around 20,000 implants per year. Those targets are ambitious precisely because today's commercial base is tiny.

Compare that with NeuroPace. NeuroPace already produces close to $100 million of annualized revenue from a neurostimulation business, yet its public valuation is below $500 million. Investors are valuing Neuralink at tens of billions because they expect an entirely different growth curve and addressable market.

Science, Precision, Synchron and Merge also require substantial execution before their valuations can be supported by conventional financial metrics.

Could another BCI startup realistically catch Neuralink in valuation?

No current BCI startup is close to catching Neuralink financially, but the race below Neuralink is far more open than the headline ranking suggests.

Science would need to rise from $1.5 billion to something around twenty times that level to reach our current Neuralink range. Precision would need roughly a 25-fold increase. Synchron and Merge would need even more.

A normal sequence of successful funding rounds will not close that gap. A challenger would need a major commercial breakthrough: regulatory approval for a large market, convincing long-term patient outcomes, rapid deployment, major revenue or proof that its technology can serve millions rather than thousands of users. A challenger would need approval, strong patient outcomes and real revenue, and we weigh who the likely future winners could be in our report on neurotech.

Science has one plausible route through vision restoration and subsequent neural-interface products. Precision could build value around a less invasive cortical architecture. Synchron could benefit if its vascular approach proves easier to deploy clinically. An ultrasound company could leap forward if non-invasive interfaces eventually deliver surprisingly high performance.

Neuralink's position is secure for now. Number two is much less settled.

So what does the BCI startup valuation ranking really tell us?

The BCI market is real and increasingly well funded, but today's valuation landscape is far more concentrated and speculative than the size of the company list initially suggests.

Neuralink stands alone at roughly $25 billion to $32 billion in our current estimate, supported by secondary-market demand rather than a new financing at that exact valuation. Science Corporation follows at $1.5 billion. BrainCo, Precision Neuroscience and potentially INBRAIN form the emerging billion-dollar group.

Below them sits a much broader cluster between roughly $100 million and $900 million, including Synchron, Merge Labs, Paradromics, Nudge, Blackrock Neurotech and a fast-growing collection of Chinese BCI companies.

The most valuable technologies are currently those that promise high-quality access to neural activity and meaningful medical outcomes. Non-invasive consumer EEG remains much cheaper, although ultrasound is attracting unusually strong interest because it could eventually offer a different balance between bandwidth and invasiveness.

Precision's huge new financing, Science's $1.5 billion valuation, China's expanding BCI ecosystem and the arrival of Merge Labs show that capital is no longer flowing toward Neuralink alone.

For now, investors clearly believe brain-computer interfaces can create several billion-dollar companies. They are pricing Neuralink as though it could become something much larger.

Our methodology

Our objective was to estimate the most defensible current valuation for companies in the brain-computer interface market rather than simply repeat the last valuation ever reported. We focused on companies whose activities are meaningfully tied to brain-computer interfaces or closely related neural-interface technologies, while treating broader neurotechnology businesses more cautiously when BCI represents only part of their activity.

We reviewed completed funding rounds, company announcements, regulatory filings, investor disclosures, revenue and operating metrics, acquisition transactions, public-market information and reporting from authoritative financial and industry sources. Recent completed financing rounds generally provided the strongest anchor for private companies.

Publicly listed companies were referenced using current market capitalization. Acquired businesses could retain a disclosed transaction value as a historical comparison, but not as a current standalone valuation.

We kept directly observed valuations separate from inferred and estimated ones. When a financing amount was known but the valuation was undisclosed, we could infer a plausible range using stage-appropriate financing economics and other available evidence. When reliable revenue or operating information existed, we also considered relevant company and transaction comparables, adjusted for business model, growth, maturity, geography and market conditions.

The age of the evidence mattered. A recent priced round could remain the primary valuation anchor, while older rounds were reassessed using subsequent company progress and changes in comparable valuations. We did not apply automatic percentage increases to stale valuations or mechanically average different valuation methods.

When direct financial information was limited, we used clinical progress, regulatory milestones, patient deployments, partnerships, transaction activity and other operating evidence to support an estimate. These indicators were given less weight than direct financing or financial evidence.

Point estimates were reserved for cases where recent evidence supported reasonable precision. We used ranges when the result depended more heavily on inference, with wider ranges reflecting greater uncertainty.

Key valuation anchors included Neuralink's $650 million Series E and reported $9 billion financing valuation, Science Corporation's $230 million Series C at a reported $1.5 billion valuation, Precision Neuroscience's $250 million Series D, Synchron's $200 million Series D, Merge Labs' $252 million financing and Blackrock Neurotech's $200 million strategic investment from Tether.

We also used regulatory and operating evidence where it helped distinguish companies with similar financing profiles. Important examples included Neuralink's participant and deployment updates, Science Corporation's PRIMA program, Precision Neuroscience's clinical and FDA progress, INBRAIN's graphene neural-interface work, Paradromics' FDA milestones, and reported revenue and filings from public neurotechnology companies such as NeuroPace and Ceribell.

Key sources used for this analysis include: Neuralink's Series E announcement, reporting on Neuralink's $9 billion financing valuation, Bloomberg on Neuralink's deployment and revenue plans, TechCrunch on Science Corporation's $230 million Series C and $1.5 billion valuation, Precision Neuroscience's $250 million Series D announcement, Bloomberg on BrainCo's Hong Kong IPO plans, Bloomberg on Merge Labs' $252 million financing, Blackrock Neurotech on Tether's $200 million investment, Paradromics on its financing and FDA milestone, NeuroPace's SEC filing, and Ceribell's SEC filing.