Another IPO is about to emerge from the "Six Little Dragons of Hangzhou".

Now it's the turn of the most mysterious "Brain-Machine Dragon".

Recently, according to Bloomberg citing sources, BrainCo, a brain-computer interface technology R & D enterprise and one of the "Six Little Dragons in Hangzhou", is in talks for a pre - IPO financing of about $100 million at a valuation of over $1.3 billion, which may pave the way for its subsequent IPO in Hong Kong or the Chinese mainland.

The news indicates that BrainCo has also started preparing listing documents, but the listing location or other details have not been determined.

Public information shows that the concept of the "Six Little Dragons in Hangzhou" was put forward from the end of 2024 to the beginning of 2025, and they are known as the "mysterious oriental power".

Among them, BrainCo, with its continuous in - depth exploration in the field of the integrated application of brain - computer interface and artificial intelligence algorithms, is listed as a representative enterprise in the field of brain - computer interface. Its founder, Han Bicheng, is even well - known in the industry as the "man racing against Elon Musk".

In the current global brain - computer interface startup track, Han Bicheng's BrainCo and Elon Musk's Neuralink are the two strongest "unicorns" with the largest financing scale, leading the non - invasive and invasive technology routes respectively.

And its IPO news is just the latest episode of the listing of the "Six Little Dragons in Hangzhou" this year.

As early as February 14, Coohom, under the banner of the "world's first stock in spatial intelligence", submitted a listing application to enter the Hong Kong stock market; on July 18, Unitree Robotics, a star enterprise in humanoid robots, also started the listing guidance and embarked on the IPO journey.

Now with BrainCo, three of the "Six Little Dragons in Hangzhou" are competing in the secondary market.

Led by a Harvard doctor, the "Brain - Machine Dragon" returns to China to start a business

The story of BrainCo starts with its post - 1985 founder, Han Bicheng.

In 2012, an era when the mobile Internet revolution swept the world, Han Bicheng, the founder of BrainCo, joined the Fred Hutchinson Research Center in Seattle, USA, after graduation. Next to it was the laboratory of Dr. Linda B. Buck, the winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Linda B. Buck won the award for cracking the secret of how humans can smell, which also inspired Han Bicheng's idea of starting a business in brain - computer interface.

So, in September 2014, he went to the Harvard Brain Science Center to pursue a doctorate. In February of the following year, BrainCo was registered and established, and the non - invasive brain - computer interface technology route was determined.

Because Han Bicheng hopes to use technological innovation to change the living conditions of hundreds of millions of people, rather than just a small number of people. The non - invasive technology route can be applied to the treatment of at least 100 kinds of diseases and can change the lives of more people more quickly.

At that time, for the earliest office, Han Bicheng rented a single - family house near Harvard University. The founding team lived on the second floor, worked on the first floor, and did experiments in the basement. Most of the founding members were doctoral students and researchers.

In order to solve the problems of data collection and analysis caused by the extremely weak brainwave signals, the team often did experiments in the basement until midnight.

In addition to solving technical problems, Han Bicheng also needed to break the then - existing impression of brain - computer interface as "too mysterious".

For this reason, he had to go to various places to make demonstrations, wearing a sensor headband, carrying a color - changing lamp and a huge mobile power supply, just to let people "see is believing".

These efforts finally turned around in 2016 when Elon Musk founded Neuralink.

BrainCo, which started researching intelligent bionic hands earlier than the concept of humanoid robots, became famous overnight for its prototype of brain - controlled intelligent hands displayed at CES in January of the same year. Subsequently, the company raised funds in two rounds within half a year.

After being favored by capital, Han Bicheng seriously considered returning to China to start a business.

The research and development of intelligent bionic hands requires very high manufacturing precision, and there is a lack of new - type manufacturing industries in the United States. With the idea of "making products better more quickly and enabling people with limb disabilities to use them earlier", Han Bicheng noticed early on the "Made in China" that could accelerate the research, development and mass production of intelligent bionic hands.

In 2018, a team from the Future Science and Technology City in Yuhang District, Hangzhou, was the only one that flew 12,000 kilometers directly to Boston to visit BrainCo's office.

They talked for three or four hours, and most of the topics were about the future development of brain - computer interface. Their sincerity thus won Han Bicheng's favor.

Just like this, a group of doctors from Harvard and MIT then moved from Boston, USA, to Hangzhou one after another.

It was this step of taking root in Hangzhou that put the research, development and mass production of BrainCo's intelligent bionic hand products on the fast track.

In November of the same year, on the stage of CCTV's "Come On! To the Future", Lin Anlu, a girl who lost her right hand, wore an intelligent bionic hand and played a duet of "On Wings of Song" with the pianist Lang Lang, which showed that BrainCo's intelligent bionic hand could control each finger of the prosthetic limb separately.

The following year, the company completed its Series A financing, attracting institutions such as China Electronics, Everbright Holdings, DeXun Capital, and CDH Investments to invest. BrainCo's valuation soared to $400 million.

In 2020, this intelligent bionic hand that can move with "thoughts" was mass - produced, becoming the world's first mass - produced intelligent prosthetic limb with perceptual nerve control. In 2022, it obtained the listing approval from the US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and entered the US market.

Nowadays, it can be seen that its intelligent bionic hand has become the world's first mass - produced intelligent prosthetic limb that allows the disabled to flexibly control each finger.

Its latest - generation product not only enables Ni Mincheng, a product experience officer who lost both arms, to write powerful calligraphy works, but also allows another product experience officer who has never played the piano and doesn't even know the music score to play the piano skillfully.

With these vivid cases, BrainCo's products are gradually promoting the evolution of brain - computer interface technology from 1 to 100.

As of now, BrainCo has completed about $300 million in financing and invested it in research and development. It is ranked alongside Neuralink founded by Elon Musk as the two companies with the largest financing scale in the global brain - computer interface field.

According to the "Hurun Global Unicorn List 2024", BrainCo is valued at 8.5 billion yuan (about $1.25 billion), making it a veritable unicorn.

"Three Dragons" compete for IPO, the figure of Hangzhou Capital emerges

Looking at the news that BrainCo plans to go public, it can be found that half of the "Six Little Dragons in Hangzhou" have embarked on the journey.

Public information shows that the "Six Little Dragons in Hangzhou" refer to six technology companies in Hangzhou that have rapidly emerged in recent years in fields such as robotics, artificial intelligence, game development, and brain - computer interface and have global influence. Their common characteristics are high technical barriers, strong innovation, and they have become industry benchmarks in their respective niche fields.

Among them, the representative work of Game Science, "Black Myth: Wukong", is China's first 3A - level game. After its launch in 2024, it broke the concurrent player record on the Steam platform.

DeepSeek focuses on the research and development of general large - scale models. Its DeepSeek - R1 model's performance is comparable to that of OpenAI, and it topped the download lists of Chinese and American app stores in 2025.

Unitree Robotics, as the "number one player" in humanoid robots, has its products participated in major events such as the CCTV Spring Festival Gala and the Winter Olympics, with a localization rate of over 90%.

DeepRobotics provides industrial - grade quadruped robot solutions such as power line inspection and cooperates with the Singapore Energy Group; Coohom, as a spatial intelligence technology provider, has its "physical world simulator" supporting 3D design innovation.

As of now, the total valuation of these six companies, including BrainCo, has exceeded 300 billion yuan, making them typical representatives of new productive forces.

On the IPO path, on February 14, Coohom fired the first shot by submitting its prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Subsequently, Unitree Robotics also accelerated the process. It carried out a share reform in May, changed its registered capital twice in June, and started the listing guidance in July as a signal to officially launch the IPO; in August, it was BrainCo's turn to conduct pre - IPO financing.

This means that the "Three Dragons" are about to compete in the secondary market, and the "first stock of the Six Little Dragons in Hangzhou" may be born among them.

What's more worth mentioning is that behind these three IPO - related actions, there is an institution that has invested in two of them.

That is Hangzhou Capital.

According to the news from the Municipal State - owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, among the "Six Little Dragons in Hangzhou", Hangzhou Capital has invested in and provided services to four companies, including DeepRobotics, Unitree Robotics, BrainCo, and DeepSeek.

Since 2022, the sub - funds invested by Hangzhou Science and Technology Innovation Fund and Hangzhou Innovation Fund have participated in Unitree Robotics' four rounds of financing.

Also in 2022, a sub - fund invested by Hangzhou Science and Technology Innovation Fund made the first early - stage investment in BrainCo. In August last year, Hangzhou Innovation Fund took over and made a second - round investment through a special sub - fund, helping BrainCo to continue its in - depth exploration in the field of the integrated application of brain - computer interface and artificial intelligence algorithms and continuously expand its business boundaries.

According to public information, Hangzhou Capital, whose full name is Hangzhou State - owned Capital Investment and Operation Co., Ltd., was newly established on November 28, 2018. It has successively established the Hangzhou Science and Technology Innovation Fund focusing on "investing in early - stage, small - scale, and high - tech startups" and the Hangzhou Innovation Fund focusing on "investing in strong, large - scale, and industrial projects".

Currently, the approved total scale of the two thousand - billion - level funds has exceeded 185 billion yuan. Through methods such as fund investment and science - and - technology finance, it has served and supported 120 listed companies (including those listed through mergers and acquisitions), strongly supporting Hangzhou's scientific and technological innovation and industrial development.

In the rolling tide of venture capital, "excellent entrepreneurs turn to investors, and excellent investors go public" is an unchanging theme.

With the support of capital, from the strong rise of the "Six Little Dragons in Hangzhou" to the latest scene of the "Three Dragons" competing for IPO, all will create a glorious picture of Hangzhou's scientific and technological strength in the new era.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Lieyun Selected", author: Sun Yuan, published by 36Kr with authorization.