Brain-computer interface raised 3.8 billion yuan in Q1 2026, exceeding the total of last year. The investment logic has shifted from "looking at concepts" to "looking at industrialization".

In the first quarter of 2026, there were a total of 17 financing events in the field of brain-computer interfaces in China, with a total financing amount of approximately 3.8 billion yuan.

The single-quarter financing scale exceeded the total for the whole year of 2025.

This figure was publicly mentioned at the 2026 National Brain-Computer Interface Technology and Industry Integration Innovation Conference held on May 10th. The judgments of many experts present were surprisingly consistent -

This track has changed.

What has changed is not the financing figure, but the core question that investors are now asking:

Three years ago, investors asked: What technological direction are you working on, and is the track big enough?

In 2026, investors are asking: When will your product enter hospitals? How can you reduce the cost? Who will be the payer?

These are two completely different ways of asking questions, behind which is a fundamental shift in the investment logic from "looking at concepts" to "looking at industrialization."

This shift will allow some companies to get more money, while others will no longer be able to get funding.

Why is it 2026? How did this turning point come about?

Looking back on the past three years, the brain-computer interface industry in China has gone through three key nodes:

The first node: In January 2024, Neuralink completed the first human implantation.

Elon Musk's company transformed the brain-computer interface from a "science fiction experiment" into something that "humans are using." Immediately afterwards, there was a wave of daily limit up in the relevant sectors of China's A-share market, and capital poured in on a large scale for the first time. At this stage, most domestic companies received "the spillover funds from the Chinese version of the Neuralink story" - as long as they said "what we do is the same as Neuralink," they could get a valuation.

The second node: Throughout 2025, there were intensive clinical breakthroughs.

The wireless minimally invasive brain-computer interface developed by the Tsinghua team helped paralyzed patients regain movement. In May 2025, Jieti Medical completed the first domestic prospective clinical trial of an invasive brain-computer interface. Sanbo Brain Hospital, Borui Kang, and Qiangnao Technology successively disclosed their clinical progress. In this year, investors began to ask "how is your clinical data" rather than just "what is your technological route."

The third node: In April 2026, Borui Kang's implantable brain-computer interface system was approved for market launch by the National Medical Products Administration. (Source: Shanghai Securities News, May 10, 2026)

This is the first registration certificate for invasive brain-computer interface medical devices in China. The significance of this event lies in that the productization has changed from "possibly achievable" to "already achieved." Approval for market launch means there is a compliance path, it means the product can enter hospitals, and it means there are real payment scenarios.

From the first node to the third node, over a period of exactly two years, capital has completed a complete shift from the "concept stage" to the "industrialization stage."

What does the shift in investment logic mean for who will win and who will be out?

In the "looking at concepts" stage, what kind of companies can easily raise funds:

· The technological route is novel enough.

· The founding team has a strong educational background.

· The market scale in the PPT is large enough.

In the "looking at industrialization" stage, the same companies will be asked:

· Does your product have a compliance path to enter hospitals?

· How low can you reduce the cost of a single device?

· Will the payer be medical insurance, self-payment by patients, or hospital procurement?

· What is your actual revenue in the past 12 months?

These two sets of questions correspond to completely different competitive landscapes.

The good news is that some companies have begun to give substantial answers. Data from 36Kr shows that as of May 2026, the total financing amount in the field of brain-computer interfaces in China has exceeded 4.4 billion yuan, and it is expected to exceed 10 billion yuan for the whole year, setting a new historical record. (Source: 36Kr, May 8, 2026)

The bad news is that capital is highly concentrated on companies that can answer the above questions. For latecomers, they are no longer facing an early-stage market where "everyone draws pies together," but a harsh competition where "only those with industrialization capabilities can get funding."

What does this mean for ordinary investors? The different relationships of three types of people

Investors holding brain-computer interface concept stocks:

The current market logic has diverged, and not all brain-computer interface concept stocks are equivalent. Focus on these three indicators: whether the company has clear progress in obtaining medical device registration certificates, whether the company has real hospital cooperation and actual installation volume, and whether the company's brain-computer interface business revenue is substantially increasing. The more positive answers a company can give to these three questions, the more solid the "industrialization verification" of this stock is.

People who are paying attention to this track and considering investing in the primary market:

The brain-computer interface in 2026 is not the metaverse in 2022 - it has real clinical needs, real regulatory frameworks, and real product implementation cases. However, it also faces challenges such as high thresholds, long cycles, and unclear business models. When entering this track, the core is to look at the team's clinical transformation ability, rather than the technical research strength - the two are not the same thing.

Ordinary readers who are curious about the brain-computer interface:

In the short term, the way the brain-computer interface enters your life is not "inserting a chip into your head," but starting from medical rehabilitation scenarios: brain-controlled prosthetics, neural regulation therapeutic devices, and thought-based text input - some of these applications have already been in actual use in the rehabilitation departments of top-tier hospitals.

From science fiction to reality, it has come faster and more quietly than you think.

China vs the world: The competitive landscape of the brain-computer interface

A somewhat comforting reality: In this global race, China is not a follower but a co-runner.

When Neuralink completed the human implantation, the time node of the Chinese team was only less than 12 months behind. More importantly, in the field of non-invasive brain-computer interfaces, China is already at the global leading level in some indicators. The 2 billion yuan in financing that Qiangnao Technology received at the beginning of 2026 is the largest single financing in the global invasive brain-computer interface field except for Neuralink. (Source: Securities Times, January 2026)

Precedence Research predicts that the global brain-computer interface market size will reach approximately 12.4 billion US dollars by 2034, with a compound annual growth rate of approximately 17% from 2025 to 2034.

This track has entered the second half of the game from "is it real" to "who will win."

To judge whether a track is real, we look at whether anyone is using it to treat diseases. In 2026 in China, there are already paralyzed patients who can drink water with their thoughts through the brain-computer interface. This has already happened.

This article is only for information sharing and industry analysis, and does not constitute any investment advice, investment analysis opinions, or trading invitations. The market is risky, and investment should be cautious. Any investment decision made by anyone based on the content of this article shall bear the risks and profits or losses on their own, and the author and the publishing platform shall not bear any legal liability.

This article is from the WeChat official account "BT Finance" (ID: btcjv1), author: Yining, published by 36Kr with authorization.