Max Hodak helped launch Elon Musk’s brain-chip company. Now his startup, Science Corporation, has just raised $230 million to continue developing a tiny retinal implant designed to restore vision for people with severe vision loss.
From Neuralink to a new vision startup
Max Hodak has spent much of his career working on ideas that sound almost like science fiction.
As co-founder and former president of Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface startup Neuralink, Hodak helped develop technology designed to connect the human brain directly to computers – the kind of concept that makes people pause and ask: is that really possible?
The vision behind Neuralink was, and continues to be, bold. Musk believes that one day, brain-computer interfaces could treat neurological diseases, restore lost abilities, and perhaps even expand what humans can do.
It’s a field that sits at the intersection of neuroscience, computing, and medicine – and one that has increasingly attracted attention from both researchers and Silicon Valley.
But in 2021, Hodak stepped away from Neuralink to pursue a different path.
Why Max Hodak left Neuralink
Rather than chasing the most ambitious versions of brain-machine interfaces, Hodak moved on from Neuralink and decided to focus on something closer to immediate medical impact.
That decision led to the founding of Science Corporation, a neurotechnology startup aimed at building neural interfaces that can reach patients sooner.
“Though we both work with the brain, our goals are different,” Hodak wrote in a 2021 letter when he announced his new startup.
“Science is not working on products that will likely be very useful for merging with AI, though that is a mission in which I hope Neuralink is successful. From a technology standpoint, what we are pursuing at Science is quite different.”
Today, that strategy appears to be gaining traction. Science recently announced it raised $230 million in a Series C funding round, bringing its total funding to roughly $490 million.
According to TechCrunch, sources close to the startup have said that the investment values the company at around $1.5 billion.
The team has also grown to about 150 employees, positioning Science as one of the better-funded startups in neurotechnology.
The eye implant designed to help restore vision
For now, most of Science’s effort is focused on a project called PRIMA, a retinal implant designed to help people with advanced macular degeneration, an eye disease that slowly destroys central vision.
The system begins with a tiny implant placed under the retina, which is a chip so small it’s often described as being smaller than a penny.
Patients then wear specialized glasses equipped with a camera. The glasses capture the visual scene and convert it into patterns of light, which are transmitted to the implant.
The chip converts those signals into electrical stimulation that activates the remaining cells in the retina. Those cells then send signals to the brain.
The result isn’t normal vision (at least, not yet). But the hope is that patients can supposedly see shapes, outlines, and contrast, and in some cases, regain the ability to read letters or short words.
In other words, it can restore functional vision where there was almost none before.
The clinical trial results showing patients can read again
Hodak, however, didn’t invent the PRIMA system from scratch.
In 2024, Science acquired the technology and intellectual property behind PRIMA from the French neurotech company Pixium Vision, taking over its clinical program and continuing development.
The move allowed Science to build on years of prior research instead of starting from zero, which has dramatically accelerated its timeline toward commercialization.
In a clinical trial involving 38 patients, published in The New England Journal of Medicine in October 2025, the PRIMA retinal implant helped restore some central vision in people with advanced dry age-related macular degeneration.
According to the results, nearly 80% of participants experienced meaningful improvements in their ability to see.
What comes next for Science Corporation
Now comes the part founders can’t always out-hustle: regulators.
Science says it has submitted a CE mark application in the European Union. If approved, reports suggest that Europe would likely be the first market for the device, with Germany expected to lead early adoption due to its relatively clear pathway for new medical devices.
In the United States, however, discussions with the FDA are ongoing.
For Hodak and his team, this stage will determine whether the work can move from promising technology to a real medical product available to patients.
At the end of the day, in neurotechnology, bold promises are common, but delivering real treatments is far harder.
If Science succeeds, the breakthrough won’t just be technical. It will show that neural implants can navigate the entire healthcare system – surgery, training, reimbursement, and regulation – while still delivering meaningful benefits to patients.
