Low vision impairment tech: 5 tech startups paving the way

Following the World Health Organization, about 2.2 billion people have vision impairment of different levels worldwide.?

Also, visual impairment is a huge global financial burden — the annual loss of productivity worldwide is about $411 billion in purchasing power parity.?

Thankfully, healthcare tech companies have created unique solutions for mitigating poor eyesight or total vision loss. According to studies, the global market of assistive technologies for visually impaired people was valued at $3.9 billion in 2021, and the forecasts say it will increase to about $13.2 billion by 2030.?

That’s why we decided to research tech companies on their mission to improve digital and work experience and the overall life of people with visual impairment.

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Be My Eyes

Company’s website: https://www.bemyeyes.com/

Founder: Hans J?rgen Wiberg

Chairman and CEO: Mike Buckley

Lead Investors: Open World Accelerator, Cultivation Capital.

Total funding amount: $5.3M

Be My Eyes was founded in 2012 to connect visually impaired people with volunteers and organizations through live video worldwide.?

The company provides? products for blind and low-vision people to "make the world more accessible." The Be My Eyes is free so that everyone can get help solving daily tasks like washing, cooking or buying groceries.?

Among Be My Eyes’ volunteer companies are Sony, Procter & Gamble, Hilton, Microsoft, and NFB. Through the app, they can provide better customer help with equal accessibility.

Neil Barnett, Director of inclusive hiring and Accessibility at Microsoft: "Be My Eyes is a great example of how technology can help bring communities together and empower people who are blind or with low vision."

The company has recently launched an AI-powered assistant — the Virtual Volunteer?powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4. This new feature is integrated into the existing app. It enables users to send images to the Virtual Volunteer and receive its instant identification and dialogic visual assistance.

What we like the most about it:

Be My Eyes is building a safe and inspiring community for visually impaired people around its platform.

The company provides tech solutions and encourages its users with stories of becoming more independent and confident.

Clusiv

Company’s website: https://clusiv.io/

Co-Founder & COO: Tom Jackson

Co-Founder & CEO: Lukas Simianer

Lead Investors: Techstars, The Batchery, Techstars Workforce Development Accelerator.

Total funding amount: $4.1M

Clusiv is an e-learning platform for blind and low-vision employees to obtain the necessary knowledge and skills for getting the desired remote jobs.?

The interesting thing about it is that blind professionals build it. So the users learn from the same people as they are.

With Clusiv, people can access such courses as Internet Safety, Financial Literacy, Fundamentals of Computer Science, and others.?

Also, the platform provides "micro-learnings" focused on learning one specific tool like Microsoft Office or Google Workspace.

Clusiv helps not only blind and low-vision employees but also companies that aim to hire them.

The platform delivers:

• Employees’ training and onboarding.
• Tracking success records.?
• Consulting services on accessibility and inclusivity.

Lukas Simianer, Clusiv’s CEO & Co-Founder: "Clusiv is an e-Learning platform that will revolutionize the way blind job seekers gain quality remote work with competitive salaries."

What we like the most about it:

We’ve found an inspiring story about the blind 17-year-old Levi Gobin, who ran a 5K mud obstacle with Lukas Simianer.

Levi works for Clusiv and doesn’t see anything impossible for himself: "I believe blind people can do anything as long as they set their mind to it."

Aira

Company’s website: https://aira.io/

Executive Chairman: Scott Minick

CEO: Troy Otillio

Lead Investors: Bose Ventures, National Science Foundation, Arboretum Ventures, Jazz Venture Partners, Lux Capital.?

Total funding amount: $35.6M

Aira was founded in 2015 as a "visual assistant on demand." The company’s name is "Access to Information” through “Remote Assistance."?

The app establishes a video call connection between an individual with visual impairment or blindness and a professionally trained interpreter who provides immediate assistance.

Aira is a human-to-human service with a visually impaired person at one end and an Aira agent at another. The agents help to cope with daily tasks by guiding users through the camera and telling them about the obstacles ahead, how many people are standing in the line, etc.?

Any business and non-profit organization can become Aira Access Partners to ensure inclusivity and accessibility to its customers, just as TD Bank did.

Steve Turley, Head of Consumer Distribution Strategy, Planning and Innovation at TD Bank: "By working with Aira to bring this technology to blind and low-vision customers, we are demonstrating our commitment to inclusion and diversity and taking an exciting step towards empowering our customers to feel comfortable, safe and independent interacting with us via whatever channel they choose, including our store locations."

What we like the most about it:

Here is what users think about the Aira app:

"I have been using this outstanding service and app for over six years now. I don’t travel anywhere without it! I enjoyed using it so much I ended up going to work for the company! If you haven’t tried this, please do and spread the word to other Blind in Low vision individuals!"

Eyedaptic

Company’s website: https://eyedaptic.com/

CEO & Founder: Jay Cormier

Equity Crowdfunding

Total funding amount: $1.7M

Eyedaptic creates glasses for people with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and other low-vision diseases. Jay Cornier had a personal reason for founding the company — his grandmother started losing her vision because of AMD.

The Eyedaptic Eyes, the glasses, are powered with exclusive vision augmentation software, which skillfully emulates an individual's organic vision. Its design results from collaboration with top-tier ophthalmologists, retinal experts, low-vision optometrists, and occupational therapists.

Eyedaptic glasses have several editions (EYE3, 4, and 5), but all are powered with augmented reality (AR) technology to simulate natural vision.?

The latest EYE5 model has EyeSwitch? software that helps users better see things on the side in many different situations.

It has a tiny camera that takes in everything around you, changes and boosts the little dots (pixels) that make up the image, and then shows you the improved picture. Plus, you can control it without using your hands.

What we like the most about it:

Most of all, we love reading the happy users' reviews:?

"The first time I put on the Eyedaptic EYE4, I experienced an aha moment. One of the best benefits of this unit is that it allows me to see people's faces when I'm in a social setting. The EyE4 has improved the quality of my life by allowing me to do normal functions around the house such as operate the microwave, read labels on medicine bottles, and be much more aware of my surroundings."

AYES

Company’s website: https://www.ayes.ai/

Co-Founder: Vincent Janssen

Co-Founder: Willem Van de Mierop

Lead Investor: Id4 Ventures

Total funding amount: $1M

Founded in 2021, AYES is an AI-passionate startup that helps blind and visually impaired people navigate independently and safely.?

The AYES' OKO app helps people to cross roads safely, hop on the correct bus or tram, and be more self-reliant. They do this by converting what they see into sounds and vibrations for feedback.

With the help of AI and the phone's back camera, the app identifies real-time pedestrian traffic signals and turners them into audio & vibration signals.

OKO notifies you even which public transport is arriving at their stop. Thus, visually impaired people can feel more independent in the urban environment.

Ivan Petrovic, investment partner at Id4 Ventures: "We believe that putting AYES’ advanced technology in the hands of millions of users will help them enjoy their cities as much as any other citizen."

What we like the most about it:

The OKO app has a 4.7-star rating in the App Store, and here's what users say:?

"The app gives excellent, audible feedback, so that blind people can know what the traffic signal is doing even when there is no traffic. I have used it with a variety of intersections, and I have found it to be accurate. The only mistake it has made is to not give any feedback, even when it should have. However, after reporting this to the developers, the problem was solved in just a day or two."

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