China’s StairMed Technology has raised RMB 500 million ($72.7m) to advance its brain-machine interface (BMI) and deep-brain stimulation (DBS) technologies to advance treatment options for patients with Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, and other neurological disorders.
StairMed’s financing round was led by Alibaba. Existing investors including Tencent, Fountainbridge Capital, OrbiMed, Oriza Seed, and Source Code Capital also participated.
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According to StairMed, the latest funding round brings the Shanghai-based company’s total funds raised in the past year to over RMB 1.1 billion ($160m).
With the closing of this financing round, StairMed said it plans to accelerate the development of its technology platform and clinical programmes, building on three successful clinical implants of its BMI system in China that were completed in 2025.
BMIs, also called brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), are chips implanted in brain tissue that take brain signals and translate them into commands. The signals are then relayed to a secondary, external device, which then carries out a specific function.
StairMed’s technology is currently the only implantable BMI in China to receive access to the National Medical Products Administration’s (NMPA) Green Channel for Innovative Medical Devices. This is an accelerated pathway that provides priority across several regulatory stages.
The company now aims to initiate large-scale, multi-centre registration clinical trials for its BMI that it says are on track to begin in mid-2026, with the goal of enrolling and implanting approximately 40 patients by year-end.
StairMed is also planning to initiate clinical trials for its closed-loop DBS system for the treatment of neurological disorders including Parkinson’s disease in 2027.
StairMed founder, Li Xue commented: “BMI is not only an emerging medical technology, but also a point of convergence between life sciences and information technology.
“The deep expertise of these [StairMed’s investors] industry leaders in multi-modal large models, computing infrastructure, intelligent hardware, and ecosystem development aligns closely with StairMed’s strengths in BMI hardware and clinical translation. This partnership will enable us to co-develop next-generation intelligent BMI systems and cutting-edge application ecosystems.”
Morgan Stanley estimates that the BCI space has an early total addressable market (TAM) of $80bn across three million US adults, though analysis regarding the global market has yet to be completed. According to Morgan Stanley, this figure could potentially reach $320bn with further advancements, with patients with conditions such as multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injuries represent a significant portion of the market.
Neuralink, the BCI developer helmed by serial entrepreneur Elon Musk, has brought widespread attention to the space. While reports emerged in 2025 that the company plans to have five large clinics in operation by 2031, with three versions of its brain-computer interface (BCI) chip available, industry observers believe that leadership in the BCI space remains “far from settled”.
