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Neural engineering company Science Corporation garners $230M

Science Corporation, a competitor of Elon Musk's Neuralink, offers a brain-computer interface retinal implant designed to restore vision in patients with macular degeneration.
By Jessica Hagen , Executive Editor
Blind person sitting on a bench in a park

Photo: Halfpoint/Getty Images

Science Corporation, which offers a brain-computer interface retinal implant aimed at restoring form vision to patients blinded by macular degeneration, has scored $230 million in Series C funding, bringing its total raise to $490 million.  

Lightspeed Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator, IQT and Quiet Capital, among others, participated in the round.

WHAT IT DOES

The California-based Science offers a brain-computer interface (BCI) retinal implant, PRIMA, which, in a clinical trial, was shown to restore vision in blind individuals suffering from geographic atrophy due to age-related macular degeneration.

The company says the PRIMA device is "comprised of a small light-powered retinal implant and a special pair of glasses that provide wireless power and data to the implant." 

Results of the clinical trial showed that 80% of patients had meaningful improvement in their visual acuity and were able to read letters, numbers and words.

The company said it will use the Series C funds to accelerate the commercialization of its implant and to further develop its research, manufacturing and operational infrastructure.

It will also continue to advance its Biohybrid neural interface technology, which uses neural interfaces to connect to the brain instead of wires, and Vessel, a perfusion system designed to enable sustainable, long-term life support.

"We are building a company which will offer patients hope beyond the limitations of traditional medicine," Max Hodak, cofounder and CEO of Science, said in a statement. 

"By engaging the brain directly as an information processing organ, we are able to achieve much greater effect sizes and drive unprecedented clinical impact. We are deeply committed to research and new technologies that can provide treatment options where none existed before – and which will fundamentally change and improve lives."

MARKET SNAPSHOT

Last month, Science announced a partnership with Neurosoft Bioelectronics, which develops minimally invasive, implantable BCI systems that use soft-materials engineering and AI to restore function in people with tinnitus, epilepsy and other disorders.

The partnership granted Neurosoft access to Science's neural recording tools, known as the Science BCI Ecosystem.

In 2025, Science secured $104 million in funding.  

Elon Musk's Neuralink is a direct competitor of Science Corporation. Its device Blindsight is an implant that aims to restore vision in individuals who are blind.

In 2024, Neuralink received FDA Breakthrough Device designation for Blindsight, which implants a microelectrode array into a person's visual cortex. The array then activates neurons, which then provide the individual with a visual image.

According to Musk, Blindsight will enable those who have lost sight in both eyes and their optic nerve to see as long as their visual cortex is intact. It will even allow those born blind to see for the first time, the company said.

"To set expectations correctly, the vision will be at first be low resolution, like Atari graphics, but eventually it has the potential be better than natural vision and enable you to see in infrared, ultraviolet or even radar wavelengths, like [Star Trek's character] Geordi La Forge," Musk wrote in a post on X in 2024.

In June of last year, Musk announced during a Y Combinator event that Neuralink would conduct its first human implants of Blindsight within six to 12 months after a monkey had had the implant active for three years.