Eyenuk has raised $25 million in Series A investment to increase access to its AI-powered eye detection system, which allows for the independent identification of diabetic retinopathy (DR) during a patient’s routine inspection.
AXA IM Alts spearheaded the latest rally, which was supported by current and new investors such as A&C Foelsgaard Alternativer ApS, T&W Medical A/S, KOFA Healthcare, and Kendall Capital Partners. This raises the total financing for the firm to $43 million.
About $6.2 million in convertible notes that were previously raised and turned into Series A shares make up the Series A funding.
WHAT DOES HE DO
The EyeArt AI program, which received FDA 510(k) approval in 2020, enables stand-alone DR detection during a patient’s routine visit, including retinal imaging, DR identification, and instant warning. After the patient’s fundus photos are taken and uploaded to EyeArt, the results are given in less than 30 seconds through a PDF report.
The ad is a response to a study that came out in September in ophthalmic sciences. In the study, researchers compared the ability of regular ophthalmologists, Eyenuk’s EyeArt artificial intelligence (AI) system, and retinal experts to find more than moderate DR (mtmDR). The results showed that the AI system was better at detecting mtmDR than regular ophthalmologists or retina specialists.
Eyenuk plans to utilise the freshly secured Series A financing to extend its AI product platform with additional illness indications and speed global commercialization.
MARKET OVERVIEW
Digital Diagnostics: In August, IDx, an AI-based diagnostics company that also uses AI to help find diabetic retinopathy in the eyes, got $75 million in Series B funding.
Its IDx-DR technology can find diabetic retinopathy, a disease that can make diabetics lose their vision or go blind. In 2018, the FDA granted De Novo approval to the IDx-DR medicine.
Google looked into how AI could be used to make diagnoses when it made Automated Retinal Disease Assessment (ARDA), a tool for finding diabetic retinopathy. In March, the tech giant gave an update on its healthcare products and said it would keep looking into ARDA to see if photos of the outside of the eye could be used to spot problems.
