Israeli start-up Camereyes has raised raises $650,000 from VLX Ventures. The company is developing a smartphone-based retinal camera to provide retinal imaging without the need for expensive equipment.
Camereyes says that its solution will make high quality retinal imaging available for over 300 million people worldwide who are at risk of losing their sight. Its smartphone based retinal camera will be the first to provide wide field imaging in a pocket size form without the need for pupil dilation.
Periodic retinal screening, which can reduce vision loss by 95%, is only available today in advanced medical centers through large and expensive fundus cameras and hence not applicable for major part of the population.
Camereyes was founded by Rishard Weitz, a serial entrepreneur in the field of ophthalmology and founder of Ophthalmic Technologies, Inc. (OTI) which was sold to OPKO Health in 2007; Dr. Barak Azmon, an Ophthalmologist and the founder & CEO of Notal Vision, developing Ophthalmic home monitoring device; David Rosenblatt, an experienced entrepreneur with extensive experience in development of optical imaging devices, and Udi Gordon, who also serves as the CEO of the company, and who previously served in a variety of senior management positions including EVP Marketing & Business Development and EVP R&D at Ceragon Networks (Nasdaq: CRNT), bringing many years of experience in development of multi-disciplinary complex systems and in global competitive markets.
“In order to screen 300 million people for vision threatening eye disorders, there is a need to perform 1,000 retinal imaging exams every minute around the world. Existing solution cannot support these scales with adequate imaging quality. Our solution will make high retinal imaging be at hand wherever you are, thus saving hundreds of millions of people from losing their sight” said Camereyes CEO Udi Gordon.
VLX Ventures CEO Ori Choshen said, "VLX Ventures has set a target to leverage our combined experience from years of investments in IT and medical device companies, and invest in the growing Digital Health domain which combines both disciplines, like Camereyes. We strongly believe in this company and the team of top notch founders. Their success could provide better eye-care solutions worldwide."
VLX (Van Leer Xenia) Ventures was formed as a partnership between Xenia Venture Capital (TASE:XENA) and Van Leer Ventures to jointly operate a technological incubator in Jerusalem and initiate and build-up innovative start-up companies in Israel.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 9, 2015
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