Med-tech startup Heru launches 1st vision diagnostics product

On the heels of its $30 million fundraising round, Heru, the medical-technology startup spun out from the University of Miami’s renowned Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, is taking its first product to the commercial market.

For the worldwide launch of its wearable diagnostics and vision field application called re-Vive, Heru partnered with Vision Source, North America’s largest network of private practice optometrists.

Based in Miami, Heru  is building a next-generation cloud-based AI-powered platform for eye diagnostic and vision correction. Re:Vive by Heru is a wearable portable solution that does not require a designated dark room, enabling physicians to collect vital clinical data anytime during a patient’s visit – with no additional testing space required – and could even be used in remote locations.

“Heru partnered with Vision Source, North America’s largest network of independent optometrists, to embrace the medical optometry community,” said Dr. Mohamed  Abou Shousha, Heru’s founder and CEO. “With access to their network of over 3,600 locally owned practices and 4,500 doctors, Heru is helping empower eye care physicians with breakthrough technology that will provide better access to care for their patients.”

Dr. Mohamed Abou Shousha, CEO of Heru

Dr. Amir Khoshnevis, Chief Medical Officer of Vision Source, adds: “Doctors and staff members can now spend less time on testing and more time on what matters most  – providing care and solutions to patients.”

Heru was founded in 2018 to widen accessibility to vision care through improved usability, portability and lower costs. “We are here at the No. 1 eye hospital and we see 300,000 patients a year, and we know the gaps in vision care — this is what really inspired us to do this. We developed a technology that helps patients live a better life and a technology that democratizes vision care,” said Dr Abou Shousha, in an earlier interview.

The startup holds 24 patents on vision augmentation and wearable diagnostics to date and its technology was developed and clinically validated within the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute’s accelerator program and has been licensed exclusively to Heru.

In May, Heru closed its Series A financing of $30 million  led by D1 Capital Partners with significant participation from hometown investors, including SoftBank’s Opportunity Fund run from Miami, Miami serial medtech entrepreneur Maurice R. Ferre and  Krillion Ventures, also based in Miami. Then Heru wasted no time putting the money to work toward commercialization of re:Vive.

The funding will be used to continue advancing Heru’s FDA-registered diagnostic platform. There are many more uses for the platform, which is designed to diagnose a wide range of diseases without the need for large capital equipment investment and dedicated exam rooms, Dr. Abou Shousa said.

Heru also recently expanded its executive team, adding a Chief Scientific Officer, Chief Technology Officer, Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Customer Officer.

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Nancy Dahlberg