Azalea Vision | Azalea Vision closes € 8 million to develop a smart contact lens for light sensitivity and ocular disorders
Summary
Andr\xe9s V\xe1squez Quintero, CTO of Azalea Vision: Our smart contact lens filters incoming light in real-time by using a thin liquid crystal cell combined with a custom-made microchip. We are very pleased to now be taking the next step towards bringing this product to the patients.Anne-Sophie Carrese, partner at Elaia: We have been convinced by the breakthrough innovation of Azalea Visions smart contact lens, organized as a platform with embedded battery and antenna, allowing for the management of visual performance and light conditions. The company closed a 8 million Series SEED in July 2021, supported by investors Imec.xpand, Elaia, Sensinnovat and Shigeru in addition to a non-dilutive research grant from Flanders Innovation and Entrepreneurship (VLAIO). Imec leverages its state-of-the-art R&D infrastructure and its team of more than 4,500 employees and top researchers, for R&D in advanced semiconductor and system scaling, silicon photonics, artificial intelligence, beyond 5G communications and sensing technologies, and in application domains such as health and life sciences, mobility, industry 4.0, agri-food, smart cities, sustainable energy, education, etc. imec unites world-industry leaders across the semiconductor value chain, Flanders-based and international tech, pharma, medical and ICT companies, start-ups, and academia and knowledge centers.