A new fund launched in India plans to invest $1 billion in the country’s neurotechnology sector over the next five years.

ADI Neuroscience’s backers include SPEC Finance India and Aleksandr Panov, serial investor and CEO of Russian neurotechnology and brain-computer interface (BCI) company Neiry.

The sector includes technologies and devices that enable communication with the human brain. Billionaire investor Elon Musk’s Neuralink is the most famous BCI company.

India ranks third in the BCI sector, with 12 startups – behind China’s 23, and 101 in the US – according to market intelligence company Tracxn. However, Indian BCI startups have pulled in only about $8.5 million in the last ten years, compared to $3.03 billion by US startups and $117 million by Chinese firms.

The global BCI market is expected to grow to $15.14 billion by 2035, from $2.87 billion in 2024, according to a report by Spherical Insights & Consulting.

Launched last week, ADI sees India as a platform where research teams, engineering expertise, and capital can come together to make the country a hub for the development of neurotechnologies.

”India has the rare opportunity to participate in shaping the standards and regulatory frameworks for the sector rather than adapting to frameworks developed elsewhere,” ADI Neuroscience said in a statement.

”The fund’s resources will be directed toward advancing neurotechnology R&D in India, creating competitive products, and developing the industry domestically,” SPEC Finance Group CEO Karan Dinesh Singh Rawat added.

The fund has deep links to Russian technology leadership. Panov, an ambassador for deep-tech entrepreneurship, is its scientific adviser, while Mikhail Lebedev, a professor at the Moscow State University who specializes in brain-to-brain interfaces, is a member of its scientific board.