While most of the venture world has been chasing AI deals, Max Hodak, the co-founder and former president of Neuralink, has been working on a startup that claims to be on the verge of becoming the first brain-computer interface company to get a product to market.
Those claims have drawn significant attention. Hodak’s startup, Science Corporation, announced it has raised two hundred and thirty million dollars in a Series C funding round. A source close to the startup says the round granted the company a post-money valuation of one and a half billion dollars.
In the short term, Science Corp. is betting on a technology called PRIMA. This is a chip said to be smaller than a grain of rice that, when implanted in the eye, works with camera-equipped glasses to restore functional vision to people suffering from advanced macular degeneration.
The startup did not fully develop this technology itself. It purchased the PRIMA assets in 2024 from the French company Pixium Vision, refined the system, and completed clinical trials that Pixium had started.
However, the subsequent clinical results belong to Science. In trials spanning forty-seven patients across Europe and the United States, the company says eighty percent demonstrated meaningful improvement in visual acuity and were able to read letters, numbers, and words.
Max Hodak has stated that, to his knowledge, this is the first time that restoration of the ability to fluently read has ever been definitively shown in blind patients. The startup’s device has also been featured on the cover of Time magazine.
It is not yet clear when PRIMA will be available to patients, but the regulatory path is taking shape. Science Corp. has submitted a CE mark application for the implant to the European Union and expects an approval in mid-2026, followed by a product launch in Europe. The company claims this timeline would make it the first BCI company with a product on the market.
The company told reporters that Germany is likely to be its first European market, as the country has established pathways for granting early access to new medical technologies. In the United States, regulatory discussions with the Food and Drug Administration are ongoing.
Science Corp. is also expanding its PRIMA trial program to include Stargardt disease and retinitis pigmentosa, which are inherited retinal conditions and leading causes of vision loss in young adults.
The new capital will be used to fund the commercialization of PRIMA, as well as to support the startup’s broader research portfolio. This includes a biohybrid neural interface program. This involves growing engineered neurons from stem cells onto a device that sits on the brain’s surface to form biological connections with existing neural circuits.
There is also a new business line inside Science called Vessel. This is an organ preservation platform that aims to develop miniaturized perfusion technology. The goal is for organs to be transported on commercial flights or maintained by patients at home, rather than in intensive care unit suites.
Investors in the Series C round include a mix of new and earlier backers, such as Lightspeed Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator, and Quiet Capital. IQT, the nonprofit investment firm that focuses on solutions for government organizations, also invested.
This funding round brings Science Corp.’s total funding to four hundred and ninety million dollars. The startup currently employs one hundred and fifty people.