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Cheyenne, Wyo – The Wyoming Business Council (WBC) announced today the Wyoming Venture Capital (WYVC) Fund’s seed round investment in Eye to Eye Telehealth, a medical technology company modernizing vision care for those afflicted with glaucoma.
Worldwide, approximately 80 million people suffer from glaucoma, a progressive eye disease and the number one cause of irreversible blindness. Unfortunately, the existing standard of in-clinic care often fails to accurately monitor the disease, leading to suboptimal treatment and vision outcomes.
Currently, glaucoma’s leading risk factor, eye pressure, is measured at quarterly appointments with the ophthalmologist. These visits miss the ‘spikes’ in pressure occurring outside office hours, such as early morning and late evening – and keep doctors from crucial information needed to treat the disease best.
Founded in 2020, Eye to Eye solves this challenge with its remote monitoring platform. This platform allows patients to self-measure eye pressure at home and automatically transfers data to their medical records, enabling doctors to make more personalized, data-driven treatment decisions.
For Co-founder David Smits MD, a Harvard-trained glaucoma specialist practicing in Wyoming, the vision of digitally transforming glaucoma care globally started with a basic frustration: “I’m only one of two fellowship-trained glaucoma specialists in the state – the other being at my clinic in Cheyenne – so some of my patients drive four or more hours to see me to get their eye pressure checked, sometimes through terrible weather. We wanted to build a technology solution that not only improves the ability to save sight through better data, but also reduces hurdles to providing care for the great patients in Wyoming.”
“This capital raise wouldn’t have happened without Wyoming,” says Co-founder and brother Preston Smits. “It’s been a tough environment for raising money, and this capital comes at a critical time, enabling us to advance toward FDA clearance and commercialization here in the Rocky Mountain region”.
Investors WYVC and Breakthrough 307 led the early fundraising, with Breakthrough Venture Capital and WYO VC providing vital incremental capital. Individual community investors, together with ophthalmologists from around the country, contributed meaningfully to fill out the round. Combined with the founders’ investment, a prior equity round and grant funds, total capital now approaches $4 million.
“During our due diligence process for Eye to Eye Telehealth, we encountered Wyoming residents who were excited about a development like this for their ongoing glaucoma care,” says Wyoming Business Council Investments Director Bert Adam. “We have been closely following this company’s progression for a few years and are enthusiastic to support them into the future.”
The WYVC team continues to finalize direct investments in several other companies and work through diligence with multiple others. The team is also working closely with Wyoming-focused emerging venture capital firms to support raising their first funds as part of WYVC’s fund strategy.
About Eye to Eye Telehealth
Eye to Eye Telehealth is a medical technology company modernizing vision care for those afflicted with glaucoma. Through a newly developed at-home tonometer designed to be easy to use and provide accurate eye pressure reading, in combination with their best-in-class remote monitoring platform, Eye to Eye enables doctors to make data-driven, personalized treatment decisions. These innovations will redefine the standard of care for glaucoma patients.