China's Mindtrix raises early VC round for cortical vision implants, tops $70M total
What's the deal? Mindtrix, a Chinese startup building invasive brain-computer interfaces, has closed an early-stage venture round, announced in November 2026. Puhua CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → led, with backers including 中科创星, Shanlan Ventures, Lingyi Investment, Hengxu CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Dingxing Quantum, Oriza Puhua, and Chaos InvestmentDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. Media reports put the company's total raised across consecutive Pre-A and Pre-A+ rounds at more than US$68.8M — over $70 million — within two years of founding.
What's the endgame? The company focuses on cortical vision reconstruction, aiming to restore sight for people blinded by retinal or optic nerve damage. Rather than reading brain signals to control devices, it writes encoded electrical stimulation directly into the visual cortex, bypassing damaged structures.
What's the money for? Funds will support engineering of a 1,024-channel vision reconstruction system, product testing and registration preparation, and multi-centre clinical research.
Why now? Chinese brain-computer interface funding has surged: industry figures show first-half 2026 volumes far exceeding all of 2025. In October, peer NeuroXess closed a US$96.3M Series B, while NeuracleDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →'s invasive product won approval and completed its first commercial implant in July.
What could go wrong? The disclosed progress remains largely investigator-initiated human research, not approved products or commercial deployment. Vision reconstruction carries clear clinical demand but faces longer technical and regulatory validation cycles than motor-control projects that dominate the field.
The signal: The round reflects capital betting on a niche route with high barriers and clinical stakes. "Vision reconstruction is a clinically rigid-demand, large-market track in the invasive brain-computer interface field," Puhua Capital said, pointing to the company's solid clinical data as the draw.
Read more: itjuzi.com
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