The bionic clothing startup CIONIC has secured fresh momentum after raising $12.5M in new Series A funding. The San Francisco company, known for its Cionic Neural Sleeve, continues to gain support as more investors recognise the urgent need for better mobility solutions. BlueRun Ventures led the round, while Caffeinated Capital, EPIC Ventures, JobsOhio Growth Capital Fund, and LDV Capital also backed the company. With this new funding, CIONIC has now raised $23M in total.
The timing couldn’t be stronger. The Neural Sleeve earned FDA clearance earlier this year, and the new capital will help the company scale manufacturing and get the device to people who face mobility challenges caused by stroke, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, or similar conditions. These conditions affect millions worldwide, and many patients struggle to find technologies that actually improve day-to-day movement. CIONIC aims to close that gap with wearable tech built for real-life use rather than clinical environments.
The company began in 2018 as a deeply personal mission. Founder Jeremiah Robison watched his young daughter deal with cerebral palsy and saw how limited traditional mobility tools were. That experience pushed him to explore how intelligent, adaptive systems could help people move with more confidence and less strain. Over time, that idea grew into a full platform designed to support natural movement.
The neural sleeve fits into a soft legging-style garment that people can wear throughout the day. It uses functional electrical stimulation to activate lower-limb muscles when the natural neural pathways have been disrupted by injury or illness. The system reads how a person walks, then sends targeted signals to the right muscles at the right moment. This makes each step smoother and more controlled.
The sleeve uses layered electrode arrays instead of the single-pathway approach seen in traditional FES devices. This setup lets the system fire multiple muscle groups in one gait cycle. Because of that, movement feels more coordinated and far less robotic. It mimics the natural rhythm of walking, something many mobility devices struggle to achieve.
With the new funding, CIONIC plans to expand its team and accelerate research. The company is preparing clinical trials for new use cases and wants to build a broader product pipeline that supports every stage of human mobility. Teams across engineering, R&D, operations, marketing, and customer support are growing as part of this next phase. Early backers like Max Levchin and Kevin Hartz helped shape the vision, and their continued interest reflects confidence in the long-term impact of this technology.
Robison says the world is heading toward a serious mobility challenge, with projections showing that one in five people will have a movement disability by 2050. He believes the moment calls for bold innovation rather than slow, incremental changes. Investors seem to share that view, seeing mobility tech as a problem that must be solved now rather than later.
BlueRun Ventures’ John Malloy, who will join CIONIC’s board, notes that more than 35 million people in the US alone face mobility limitations. He has watched the team build and refine the Neural Sleeve over the years and believes they are well positioned to reshape this entire sector. Malloy says the group blends vision and execution, and he expects the technology to transform how people think about mobility support.
As the bionic clothing startup scales, it wants to make advanced mobility tech as common and accessible as everyday wear. Its long-term plan focuses on restoring independence, easing the physical burden for caregivers, and creating tools that adapt to each person rather than forcing people to adapt to outdated solutions. The company sees human movement as something that deserves the same level of innovation that has reshaped other major industries, and it is building the foundation to make that shift possible.
