By Allan Maurer
ATLANTA—Visioneering, which developed a patented, FDA-approved technology for presbyopia, the aging eye’s loss of the ability to read or focus close-up, says its presentation at SEBIO’s investor forum early in November stirred up serious investor interest.
Founded in 2003, Visioneering has already raised $1.2 million from 15 angel investors and is looking for another $5 million,” says Joe DeLapp, president and CEO. It will use the additional capital to complete clinical studies support commercialization.
DeLapp tells TechJournal South the company’s technology evolved from 20 years of work by its founder, Dr. Richard Griffin of Gainsville, FL. It works by using optics and lenses to “induce an aperture,” says DeLapp. “We use optics in the lenses to get the visual cortex to believe there is an aperture there.”
DeLapp says the company is not re-inventing optics. “We’re using a well-known and accepted principal. It’s the same technology used in disposable cameras.”
The company’s first product is aimed at the $1 billion presbyopia contact lens category, which the company believes offers the fastest path to market and exit. The company expects to exit via acquisition or licensing.
But DeLapp says Visioneering’s technology can also be applied to the LASIK (laser vision correction) and intraocular lens markets.
The company says the on-eye/in-eye category for correction of presbyopia is dramatically underdeveloped (with spectacles, 46 percent of all lenses are for presbyopia, it is only 6 percent for contact lenses, 9 percent for LASIK surgery and 19 percent for intraocular lenses (for cataracts). The reason for this underdevelopment is simple–current designs to correct presbyopia for these markets do not work broadly without some type of visual compromise.
The company has quite a lot going for it. A clinical study by a third party firm showed Visioneering’s lens design clearly superior to Johnson & Johnson’s marketed multifocal lens for presbyopia.
It already has FDA 5-10(k) clearance to market its product as a medical device.
Another advantage to commercializing the Visioneering tech, says DeLapp, is that unlike more invasive medical devices, it does not have to be implanted in a body to see if it works. “In our case, you put the lens in the eye and if it needs correction, you take it out.”
Visioneering was one of four early-stage start up companies selected to speak at the SEBIO conference, selected from 60 start-ups that applied.
DeLapp says, “We’ve met with several venture capitalists and we’re going to meet with others who saw our presentation. We already did three rounds of due diligence with one group and we’re in a second round with another. An angel group we’re dealing with may invest the whole amount. So we came away from SEBIO feeling pretty good.”
DeLapp says the Early Stage Shoot Out process at SEBIO not only gave the company great exposure in front of more potential investors than it could reach at one time otherwise, it also proved educational.
“When you get to the final four, you go into a mentorship. I call them ‘tormentors,’ but I say it affectionately. They gave us very good feedback on how to present things. One of the best things about the feedback is that now we better understand some of the questions and comments from the investors. They sometimes say something but don’t explain their thinking.”
During a session in which the VCs debated what the company should do to proceed, “One group said this and another said that, depending on the type of funds they were.” DeLapp notes that now when he presents to a VC, he better understands that you have to adjust what you say depending on the firm’s background.
“Five to six really strong leads came out of SEBIO for us, one in particular is really interested in working with us,” DeLapp says. “Even if your company doesn’t win or make the finalists, I think it would be a helpful process.”
On the Web: www.sebio.org
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