Occuity crowdfunding drive aims to raise £1.8m for devices to detect chronic health conditions

Occuity has launched a £1.8 million crowdfunding drive in order to develop ophthalmic and optical devices that will aim to detect the early signs of chronic health conditions by scanning the human eye.

The UK medtech start-up hopes that reaching its crowdfunding target will help it deliver a range of non-invasive diabetes detection and personal management devices by the end of 2025.

Occuity, which was founded in 2019, has developed and patented contactless optical technology to obtain precise measurements from the eye, and the new products will be developed using this technology.

It is hoped that the money, which is being sourced via the Seedrs platform, will allow the company to bring a range of new devices to market. The devices are expected to be used for ophthalmic examinations, diabetes management, pre-diabetes screening and, in the longer term, the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease.

The first device in development measures corneal thickness with micrometre level precision. It is due to begin clinical testing imminently, and is expected to be approved for use in the European Union by early 2022.

This will be followed in 2024 by a pre-diabetes screening device, which will allow mass testing for emerging signs of Type 2 diabetes at pharmacies and optical practices.

In 2025, Occuity hopes to launch a personal, non-invasive optical glucose monitor that will enable people with diabetes to monitor their blood-sugar levels without drawing blood.

It also plans to support the delivery of a routine screening device that will be capable of detecting early signs of Alzheimer’s disease by identifying biomarkers deposited in the eye.

The project is being led by Occuity’s founder and CEO, Dr Dan Daly, company co-founder and chief technology officer, Dr Robin Taylor, and Daniele De Iuliis, who joined as design director in 2020 and had previously worked as part of Apple’s industrial design team.

Daly said that Occuity’s vision is to “identify chronic conditions faster and earlier with non-invasive, non-contact handheld devices, and provide tools to manage those conditions better.”

He added: “There is a huge opportunity to deliver a step-change over the next decade in optometry practice and the way chronic diseases like diabetes and Alzheimer’s are detected and managed.

“We are inviting people who share our vision of transforming health screening to invest in our crowdfunding campaign to improve the lives of hundreds of millions of people worldwide.”

De Iuliis said: “It is becoming possible to detect and manage debilitating health conditions through a quick, non-contact eye scan.

“We are developing game-changing medical devices for use in non-clinical settings and by the patient. They will be kinder, more intuitive and more convenient than existing technologies, and they will be accessible to all.”

The crowdfunding campaign can be viewed on Seedrs’ website.