Nayam Innovations is building a transformative technology for cataract patients.
Nayam Innovations Pvt Ltd, an IP-driven, medical device start-up built with a bold vision to eliminate blindness from the world, has today announced that it has secured its latest round of investment. The round was led by IAN Fund – a uniquely differentiated seed/early-stage fund and Bharat Innovation Fund - a leading deep tech-focused venture capital fund. The Vinod Jain Family office, Mr Sameer Desai- President of Zydus Cadila and a few angel investors also participated in this round. This round of financing will primarily be used to complete human clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of the technology and set the stage for launching the product in India as well as the US, Europe, Singapore, China and Japan.
Founded by Dr Julia Ann Kornfield, Dr Surendra Ponrathnam and Tanuj Gigras, Nayam Innovations has developed a novel technology platform that allows surgeons to customize the intraocular lens either before or after surgery to neutralize refractive errors like astigmatism, myopia (near-sightedness) and hyperopia (far sightedness). Nayam technology eliminates the need for any post-surgical intervention like wavefront-corrected LASIK or progressive spectacles. The company also aims to lower the manufacturing cost of hydrophobic foldable IOLs to make its technology affordable to every cataract patient in need.
Commenting on the announcement, Tanuj Gigras, Co-Founder, CEO and CTO said, “We are building a technology that will be useful for every cataract patient regardless of their lifestyle and economic status. Much of our population does not have access to the best technology. We want to make state-of-the-art available to the masses. We believe everyone should be able to have access to top quality health care in India regardless of their economic status."
Ashwin Raguraman, Co-founder and Partner at Bharat Innovation Fund said, “Nayam Technologies' innovation sits at the intersection of material science, optics and health and promises to redefine the outcomes of cataract surgery for a patient. If successful, Nayam will transform the way older people across the world experience quality of eyesight. We are delighted to partner with the team at Nayam towards achieving this goal. .”
Sudipta Gautam, Managing Partner IAN Fund said, “We see great potential in Nayam’s futuristic technology which combines material science and engineering with innovative manufacturing processes. Tanuj and his team are well on their way to creating a global visual optics company which will have a great impact on society in the years to come”.
With rising life expectancy and earlier onset of cataract compared to prior generations, patients irrespective of economic class are either working for a living or maintaining an active lifestyle even after their cataract surgery. Hence, there is a need for a fully customizable IOL that can not only correct cataract but also refractive errors at the same time and enable a spectacle-free vision.
Previously Nayam Innovations had also raised funds in the form of grants and equity from Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), Department of Science & Technology (DST), Venture Center- India’s largest science-based business incubator; and Villgro Innovations Foundation and a clutch of industry veterans. Villgro and Venture Center plays an important role on the board of Nayam and has also provided support to incubate the company in its early stages.
Bharat Innovation Fund is a Pre-Series-A/Series-A, fund led by seasoned investment and technology professionals with a focus on IP-driven deep tech solutions. It is part of CIIE.CO’s innovation continuum providing early-stage support to start-ups who are building companies of consequence.
IAN Fund, Indian Angel Network’s maiden VC Fund is a uniquely differentiated seed/early-stage Fund that aims to transform India’s entrepreneurial landscape. Registered with SEBI, the 375-crore fund has invested in innovative companies in sectors including healthcare and medical devices, VR, AI, software-as-a-service, marketplaces, fin-tech, big data, artificial intelligence, and hardware. IAN Fund leverages and builds upon the strengths and success of IAN, the single largest platform for seed and early-stage investing, enabling entrepreneurs to raise from Rs. 25 lakhs to Rs. 50 crores.
Nayam Innovations is an IP-driven, medical device start-up founded in 2012, by Dr Julia Ann Kornfield, Dr. Surendra Ponrathnam and Tanuj Gigras. It is developing a platform that enables patients and surgeons to customise intraocular lenses, enabling spectacle-free LASIK-quality vision at all distances without the need for progressive eyewear. Nayam is centred on transformative technology that will help both emerging and developed nations to lower their ballooning cataract surgery bills
Advertisements