19th September 2018, Bangalore. Bangalore-based Cyclops Medtech is revolutionizing the neuro -vestibular diagnostic space with a novel solution based on the established science of eye tracking. The startup recently raised USD 1 Million from marquee VC firm Unitus Ventures and others to further augment its role as a leader in the space and rapidly scale up its installations base in India and rest of Asia. The round also saw participation of its earlier investor Mr. C P Bothra.
BalanceEye, a clinical diagnostic platform making Neuro-Vestibular diagnosis affordable and accessible
Using eye tracking technology, Cyclops Medtech’s BalanceEye product has made diagnosis of various neuro-vestibular conditions easy and accurate and reduced the price to a fraction of that of existing imaging technologies. Dizziness and other symptoms of multiple neuro-vestibular disorders (including vertigo, migraine and balance) manifest in the pupil movement. Cyclops’ platform captures, measures and analyses these manifestations, helping clinicians determine their root cause in order to plan appropriate early stage treatment.
Prior to the launch of Cyclops’ product BalanceEye, India had very few dizziness and balance assessment platforms and most were located in metros or tier 1 cities. Having achieved 100 installations in a short span of 16 months, Cyclops is changing that statistic. The company is a market leader in its space with close to 62% of the market share. Moreover, Cyclops is significantly increasing access to diagnosis and timely treatment for the masses as well as reducing patients’ out-of-pocket expenses. BalanceEye’s scale-up is largely concentrated in tier 2, 3 and 4 cities including towns such as Morbi, Miraj, Islampur, Madurai, Trichy, Bargarh and Shillong. The product also has the ability to offer remote diagnosis, which augments clinical care in regions where physician availability is sparse and expands clinical reach.
Cyclops’s current customer base comprises of individual ENT, Neuro and Audiology clinics as well as large hospitals and medical colleges like Sakra World, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences etc.
“In the last 16 months more than 10,000 tests have been performed on BalanceEye platform and many alarming medical conditions like Midbrain infarct, cerebellar vermis atrophy, frontal meningioma, neurovascular cross compression, etc. have been detected. Many of these patients come from rural hinterlands of India.” says, Dr. Srinivas Dorasala, Co-founder, Cyclops Medtech.
Eye tracking based diagnostic solutions are portable, affordable, accurate and non-invasive
“Eyes are windows to a patient’s neuro-vestibular world. Pupil based diagnosis is portable, affordable, accurate and completely non invasive. It helps millions of people in emerging economies to access cutting edge diagnosis at the right time and right cost. We intend to use funds from this round to further augment our leadership position by rapidly increasing the installation as well as subscription base in India as well as few other emerging markets. By achieving the milestone of 100 installations, we already have the highest base in India. We would also fast-track development of our stroke screening product and launch it next year.” said Mr. Niranjan Subbarao, Co-founder, Cyclops Medtech.
“We met Cyclops Medtech through LetsVenture and were impressed with their vision of transforming balance disorder diagnosis through affordable and easily accessible technologies.
What attracted us the most to Cyclops’ was its ability to maintain a low price for its product while providing easy to use cutting edge technology, making the solution relevant to both developed and developing markets.
This aligned with our mission to support innovative healthcare businesses that have intrinsic capability to create a significant social impact.”, said Milind Shah, Partner at Unitus Ventures.
“We are very bullish on low cost medical devices being built out of India, and have seen a spike in the demand for such startups by investors. Cyclops uniquely applies machine learning on top of eye movement data collected by their hardware to predict diseases like vertigo, and can have immense impact in developing countries. Having done 150 deals with angel investors in the last 4 years, we started working actively with institutional investors in 2018. We now work with over 60 institutional funds from India and Singapore and are glad to have our first closure with Unitus Ventures.” said Shanti Mohan, Founder and CEO at LetsVenture.
Way Forward: Rapidly scale up product installations in India and neighbouring markets
In the coming years, Cyclops Medtech plans to to scale up BalanceEye installations across India, primarily in tier 2 and tier 3 cities. In addition, the company will also focus on capturing other markets in Asia with a target of 1,000 installations over the next 5 years. Other than BalanceEye, the company is also working on 3 other products in the neuro-vestibular space.
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About Cyclops Medtech
Cyclops Medtech is a startup that’s building clinical and wearable diagnostic as well as rehabilitation products for neuro-vestibular disorders using eye tracking technology. Based out of Bangalore, India, the startup launched its first product BalanceEye last year and has close to 100 installations. The startup has a very holistic team of Doctors, engineers and business professionals and has won several awards including the coveted NASSCOM Emerge 50 – League of 10 Award.
More about Cyclops Medtech >
About Unitus Ventures
Unitus Ventures is the leading impact venture fund investing in startups innovating for the masses in India, focusing on healthcare, education and inclusive fintech. Founded in 2012, Unitus Ventures is a part of the Capria Network, the leading global network of impact fund managers, focused on addressing the “missing middle” finance opportunity by investing in high-growth businesses in emerging markets of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Capria Network is managed by Capria Ventures, a leading global investment firm, and is part of Unitus Group, a premier financial services group operating in India and other emerging markets since 2000. Unitus Ventures is based in Bangalore and Seattle and is a member of the India Impact Investors Council.