With a vision to democratise early detection of Diabetic Retinopathy (DR), a deeptech healthcare startup Oivi has secured $500,000 (approx ₹3.5 crore) through pre-seed round of funding, which was led by Arali Venture LLP. While, other investors from Norway, Netherlands, China, including marquee angels from India also participated in the round of Oivi, cited Yourstory.
Bengaluru and Norway-based platform Oivi will use the infused funds to help expand its R&D and product development field, early patient testing, and to understand the need being filled in the global market, including India.
Rajiv Raghunandan, managing partner from Arali Ventures, said, “The Oivi team has a proven track record bringing dozens of camera- and electro-optical sensor systems from idea stage to mass production in multiple industries. Drawing on this vast experience, the team has created a novel optics and illumination engine capable of providing retinal imaging with unprecedented image quality, given its small form factor. The embedded neural compute chip, which is hosting Oivi´s proprietary deep learning algorithms, allows for pupil tracking that will enable fully automated retinal image capture, and also screening for diabetic eye diseases.”
The company was founded by Anders Eikenes, Khaleel Udyawar, Jukka Alasirniö, and Hans Einar Øverjordet in 2017. Oivi is catering to the need by developing a hand-held screening device that automates the retinal image capture, allowing for deployment in primary care and requiring minimal training.
The founders of Oivi, said, “Oivi’s vision is to eliminate unnecessary blindness by providing a low-cost camera for retinal screening, with fully automated image capture and diagnostics. Oivi wants to eradicate blindness among patients with diabetes, scanning every eye, detecting early signs of DR, while helping ophthalmologists focus more on treatment instead of screening for DR and manually scrutinising retinal images.”
The startup Oivi claims that DR affects more than 160 million people worldwide and is the most common cause of blindness among people with diabetes. However, early detection and intervention can successfully prevent vision-loss from DR by up to 95 per cent.
Apart from Oivi, other emerging healthcare startups include Practo, Netmeds, mChemist, Medd, DeliMedi, CareOnGo, and MediDali.