StairMed, a brain-computer interface (BCI) developer, has secured RMB 500 million (USD 72.7 million) in a funding round led by Alibaba Group, with participation from SDIC Unity Capital. Existing investors including Tencent, FountainBridge Capital, OrbiMed, Oriza Seed, Qiming Venture Partners, Lilly Asia Ventures, Source Code Capital, and SSCI Leading Fund also joined the round. Springhill Fund served as financial adviser.
With this deal, StairMed has raised a total of RMB 1.1 billion (USD 159.9 million) over the past year.
Last December, the company unveiled its second-generation high-throughput wireless invasive BCI system, WRS02, which increases electrode channels to 256. Beyond restoring motor control, the system is also designed to explore language reconstruction as a potential future application.
By early this year, using a self-developed surgical robot, StairMed completed clinical implantation of its 256-channel BCI system and validated brain-controlled interaction functions. The company plans to begin multicenter registration clinical trials later in 2026, aiming to enroll and implant approximately 40 patients within the year.
The year 2026 could mark an important stage for BCI development. While technical systems are approaching real-world deployment, policy developments are also providing momentum. Last year, China’s National Healthcare Security Administration released guidance aimed at establishing pricing frameworks for neurological medical services. The guidance includes BCI-related procedures as independently billable medical services, signaling institutional support for integrating BCI technologies into mainstream healthcare.
In a previous interview, Zhao Zhengtuo, co-founder of StairMed, said the clinical value of BCI-based therapies could be verified within the next three to five years, particularly in improving patients’ quality of life and ability to work.
“In five to ten years, [BCIs] will begin to show potential in consumer health,” Zhao said. “Because BCIs enable direct communication between humans and machines, they could redefine human-computer interaction and dramatically enhance efficiency.”
For BCI platforms, however, technological limits extend beyond hardware. Ultra flexible neural electrodes, integrated system design, and clinical validation are all important, but the depth of neuroscience research and understanding of the brain ultimately determines how far these systems can advance.
In that process, data may become a decisive factor.
“The company that accumulates the largest and richest brain datasets will be best positioned to define the next wave of applications and technologies,” Zhao said. Once large volumes of data are collected from a single brain region performing specific tasks, researchers could train what he described as a “foundation model” for brain data, similar to how large artificial intelligence models are trained today.
Such a model could then be applied to new patients, potentially improving the initial decoding performance and brain control capabilities of their BCI systems.
The participation of technology companies such as Alibaba could accelerate that effort. Capabilities in multimodal large models, computing infrastructure, intelligent hardware, and ecosystem development could eventually combine with StairMed’s hardware and clinical translation experience, potentially supporting the development of next-generation BCI systems and related applications.
From the beginning, StairMed envisioned BCI technology eventually reaching consumer-grade applications. The company chose to start in healthcare because it provides both a necessary regulatory pathway and an area with urgent real-world demand, offering a practical environment for refining the technology.
“Our hope is not just to restore motor or sensory function, but also to push the boundaries of human control,” said Li Xue, another co-founder of StairMed. “In the past, we controlled limbs with our brains. In the future, we might control external devices via BCIs, potentially surpassing normal human limits.”
Early results already suggest that possibility. Paralyzed patients implanted with BCI devices have reportedly shown advantages in specific tasks, such as cursor control speed, after training.
Looking ahead, the convergence of BCIs, AI, and advanced hardware could allow people to control intelligent agents and external devices with complex intent through thought alone.
In StairMed’s long-term vision, the brain could connect with multiple external systems through BCIs, bringing the concept of human–machine integration closer to practical use.
KrASIA features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This article was written by Hai Ruojing for 36Kr.
Note: RMB figures are converted to USD at rates of RMB 6.88 = USD 1 based on estimates as of March 13, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.