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Toku Eyes’ THEIA software uses artificial intelligence to analyse a retinal image then return a result in around 10 seconds. Image \/ Supplied<\/p><\/div>\n
Vaghefi first conceived of what became THEIA while working on imaging technology during his PhD in biomedical engineering at Auckland University (where he remains a senior research fellow and senior lecturer on top of his startup duties).<\/p>\n
After graduating, he formed Toku Eyes (or “My Eyes”) and set about developing his AI product with help from local ophthalmologist and options and capital from Uniservices (Auckland University’s commercialisation arm), Icehouse Ventures and the rich-list Mafsen family.<\/p>\n
On top of the $3.6m just raised, the company has also received around $4m in grants from organisations including the Health Research Council, MBIE (through its National Science Challenge) and Callaghan Innovation.<\/p>\n
Today, he has 10 staff and THEIA is going through the US Federal Drug and Administration, which should serve as a springboard for approval in other territories. Meanwhile, THEIA successfully completed its latest clinical trial in May 2021 at Middlemore Eye Hospital, Vaghefi and is being used in private practices across the country.<\/p>\n
China crisis<\/h3>\n
Right now, it’s being used to review analysis that’s already been carried on image scans. Once it gains regulator approval, Vaghefi sees the AI being used for real-time anal\udbc0\udc5csis.<\/p>\n
He hopes FDA approval for Toku Eyes first wave of software will arrive by the end of this year. If it does, he sees his company going to market in early 2022.<\/p>\n
He sees the US and New Zealand as Toku Eyes primary markets initially, but will also use around a third of the $3.6m just raised on entering China – where that county’s burst of wealth in recent decades has led to an explosion of bad eating and, according to some estimates, somewhere between 100m to 150m people suffering type 2 diabetes.<\/p>\n
Development continues, and the founder is aiming to soon have an algorithm that can spot glaucoma.<\/p>\n
Backing from US non-profit<\/h3>\n
The oversubscribed funding round just closed – Toku Eyes first external raise – was led by Icehouse Ventures and supported by a second local venture capital outfit, Artemis Capital and US non-profit Kera Link International, a social venture that invests in technology to address blindness in developing countries.<\/p>\n
The funds were raised at a pre-money valuation of $8.5m, and at the end of the day, Vaghefi wants to make profits – the better to fund his socially conscious startups, and to expand to new initiatives such as cheaper, more accessible fundus cameras.<\/p>\n
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