The Shanghai-based firm has raised more than 1.1 billion yuan (US$163 million) in funding over the past year to push forward with its research, with investors including the Chinese tech giants Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group Holding. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post. So far, it has tested the technique on sheep, but has yet to begin human trials. The BCI implant device market is projected to grow rapidly over the next decade, and be worth US$80 billion in the United States alone by 2035, according to a Morgan Stanley report. China has vowed to nurture “two or three” global players in the sector by 2030.