Blind woman reads letters again days after retinal chip switch-on

In early June, a 40-year-old woman from Zhejiang province who had lost her sight to retinitis pigmentosa began recognising letters again within days of a chip carrying 320 stimulation channels being switched on in her retina.

The company behind the chip, Nanochap Electronics, said on November 3 it had closed a RMB 500 million Series C+ round led by Gaorong Ventures, its second round of 2026, bringing total funding to RMB 1 billion.

Three patients have been implanted so far in a registration trial running at three hospitals; Nanochap aims to complete 30 implants in 2026 and seek commercial approval in 2027, while its 1,280-channel visual-cortex implant remains in animal studies.