Telemedicine Startup Spect Raises $3.5 Million to Build Digital Eye Screening Platform
Spect is a telemedicine startup company that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to diagnose eye diseases in patients. The startup business recently secured $3.5 million in new funding from investors to help accelerate the growth of its company and telemedicine platform.
Growing the Team and AI Capabilities
Support for Spect during the round was driven by investments from California-based venture capital (VC) firms Morado Ventures and AME Cloud. London-based corporate venture capital firm XTX Ventures and Munich-based angel group 10x also participated in the funding.
“The eye is the body’s check engine light,” said Mike Ricci, co-founder and CEO of the telemedicine business. “Retinal screening can prevent diabetic retinopathy, and give early warnings about heart attack, stroke, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s. Spect solves today’s retinal exam pain points so that millions of patients can, and will, get the preventative care they need.”
With new funding in hand, the startup company plans to further expand its team and continue to develop its AI capabilities. The telemedicine business recently added Drew Hosford, former VP of Engineering at Gauss Surgical, to its executive team. Hosford will be taking on the role of CTO at the startup company.
Additional funds from the oversubscribed round will allow the telemedicine business to pursue new partnerships with health enterprises and clinics as it strives to extend access to retinal screenings. Prior to the latest funding round for the company, the startup business found support from Y Combinator, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS, Medtech Innovator, and StartX.
AI Eye Assessments
Ricci co-founded the startup business in 2017 alongside entrepreneurs Ankur Gupta, Michael Leung, and Ted Leng. Since then, the telemedicine company has built a platform that combines hardware and AI technology to perform retinal screenings that it claims are faster and less expensive than traditional methods.
Practices that have partnered with Spect are sent a portable imaging device used to capture detailed images of the patient’s eyes. After using the imaging device, the AI platform assesses the images for signs of common eye diseases (and some rarer diseases), including diabetic retinopathy, dry macular degeneration, and Myopic Degeneration. Spect claims that its platform can complete an assessment in just 3 minutes.
The telehealth company uses a subscription-as-a-service business model for its platform. Spect does not charge an “upfront or support cost to the customer.” Currently, the company has deployed its eye screening technology in over eight US states.
Disrupting the Vision Care Industry
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an estimated 93 million adults in the US are at risk of serious vision loss. Furthermore, the CDC states that the early detection and treatment of diseases, like those detected by Spect’s platform, “has been found to be efficacious and cost effective.”
Market research expects the global vision care market to reach over $69 billion by 2026. The industry, which was worth more than $63 billion in 2020, is expected to register a CAGR of 4.06% over the forecast period. Spect may find its company competing alongside other telemedicine platforms in the industry, such as Digital Diagnostics.
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