Recently, Precision Neuroscience (hereinafter referred to as Precision) announced that it has completed a new round of C round of financing of US$102 million (approximately RMB 744 million), bringing its total funds to US$155 million. Investors participating in this round of financing include General Equity Holdings, B Capital, Stanley F. Druckenmiller's Duquesne Family Office and Steadview Capital.

This round of financing will be used to expand Precision's team, advance clinical research, and improve future versions of its artificial intelligence-driven brain implants. These implants are designed to enable severely paralyzed users to operate digital devices such as computers and smartphones simply by thinking.

On November 6 this year, Precision also completed a C round of financing, with a financing scale of US$93 million (approximately RMB 679 million).

Founded in 2021, Precision is a company focused on developing brain-computer interface (BCI) technology. Its goal is to bring advanced brain-computer interface technology to millions of patients to treat currently incurable neurological diseases such as paralysis, stroke, and major brain injury.

Precision currently has more than 25 patents and patent applications, and plans to apply the device to neurological diseases other than nerve palsy. The excellent minimally invasive implant properties and the modular features of the microelectrode array allow multiple arrays to be combined clinically to cover large areas of the brain.

Precision's "Layer 7 Cortical Interface" technology is a compromise between invasive and non-invasive brain-computer interface technologies designed to reduce damage to brain tissue. The 7-layer cortical interface is a thin-film microelectrode array designed to conform to the cerebral cortex without damaging the tissue. Using Precision's patented minimally invasive insertion method, thousands of channels can be delivered anywhere on the surface of the brain.

In addition to being minimally invasive, the 7-layer cortical interface has many features:
High-density electrodes: Each Layer 7 array contains 1024 tiny electrodes, which are 600 times denser than standard cortical arrays and can capture the brain's electrical signals at extremely high resolution; Flexible film material: The Layer 7 interface is made of a flexible film material that is only one-fifth the thickness of a human hair and can fit the surface of the brain while remaining soft and flexible; Reversibility: The Layer 7 interface is designed to be reversible, meaning that the brain remains intact after implantation and can be removed or replaced as needed, which reduces long-term risks; High-resolution data: Layer 7 technology can capture the electrical signals generated by the brain when processing information or initiating actions at the micron scale, providing an unprecedented view of brain activity.

In addition, in order to fully control the production of its core technology, the 7-layer cortical interface, internalized production can better manage product quality, and quickly iterate future versions of products, on October 5, 2023, Precision completed the acquisition of a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) foundry through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Precision BioMEMS Corporation.

The foundry covers an area of 22,000 square feet, including a 5,500 square foot ISO Class 5 clean room, more than 500 square feet of ISO Class 6 post-processing and assembly space, and more than 50 sets of special equipment. Precision BioMEMS has retained the team at the factory, which has deep expertise in biomedical and general MEMS manufacturing.

Currently, Precision's brain-computer interface system has been granted breakthrough device designation by the US FDA, which will speed up the review process for new technologies. In addition, Precision is actively developing machine learning software to translate neural data into computer code to further enhance the functionality of BCI. The development of this technology is expected to provide new treatments for patients with neurological diseases such as stroke, traumatic brain injury, and Parkinson's disease to help restore or improve neurological function.

Brain-computer interface originated in the early 20th century, when Professor Hans Berger first discovered brain waves. Since then, researchers have conducted research on brain-computer interface related technologies.

Brain-computer interface technology can bypass peripheral nerves and muscles to directly establish a new communication and control channel between the brain and external devices. It has important potential applications in many fields such as rehabilitation of patients with movement disorders and enhancing human work ability from a physical or cognitive level. From a technical perspective, brain-computer interfaces can be divided into two types: non-implanted (invasive) and implanted (invasive). With the development

of brain-computer interfaces, artificial intelligence, biomedical engineering, neural engineering and rehabilitation engineering, cognitive neuroscience and psychological science, the connotation and extension of brain-computer interfaces are constantly enriched, and scientific fantasies are shining into the real world.

It is worth mentioning that Precision is a strong competitor of Neuralink, a neurotechnology company owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. With the successful completion of the above two rounds of financing, Precision has become the brain-computer interface company with the most funds after Neuralink. In addition to the active development of Precision, Neuralink has also been active this year. On January 28, Neuralink performed the first human transplant of a brain-computer interface device, but Neuralink published a blog post on May 8 stating that they had recently encountered implantation problems in the first human subject, Nolan Abo, resulting in a reduction in the amount of data captured from Abo's brain, which also raised questions about the safety and reliability of brain-computer interface technology. However, according to people familiar with the matter, Neuralink has informed the FDA that they believe they have solved the problems encountered by Abo's implant, adding that the company hopes to implant the device in two more patients in the coming months.

Until August 6, Nature magazine revealed in its latest report that Neuralink had implanted a brain-computer interface in a second human patient. In September, Neuralink officially announced that its experimental brain implant device "Blindsight" had been granted breakthrough device certification by the US FDA.

Looking at the entire brain-computer interface market, the market is still a blue ocean. According to McKinsey's forecast, the market size of brain-computer interface medical applications is expected to reach US$40 billion in 2030 and US$145 billion in 2040.

In China, brain-computer interface related technologies are still in the "nascent" stage. However, since the beginning of this year, governments in Beijing, Shanghai and other places have issued a series of policies to promote the development of the brain-computer interface industry; and there have been continuous breakthroughs in clinical practice. In November, the brain-computer interface product NEO, jointly developed by Bo Ruikang and Professor Hong Bo's team of Tsinghua University, completed the third clinical implantation surgery in the country and recovered well after the operation.

However, it is worth noting that the current invasive brain-computer interface equipment is still in the early stages of development, with rich imagination space, but also facing safety and ethical issues. The road ahead is long, and scientists and regulators still need to continue exploring.

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