Company
Founded in 2019 Occyo leverages direct clinical insights from its ophthalmologist founders, Vito Romano, MD, and Bernhard Steger, MD. The need for standardized ocular surface imaging originated from their clinical experience. The company has grown to 18 employees, focusing on innovative medical solutions for ophthalmology and telemedicine.
Market
Despite advancements, current ocular surface imaging lacks high quality and reproducibility required for remote diagnosis and prescription. Traditional methods require highly trained operators and still often produce inconsistent images, complicating workflows and decision-making. Occyo addresses these challenges.
Solution
Occyo One captures the health-state of the ocular surface in standardized high-resolution images, enabling precise documentation and monitoring of pathologies. It delivers fast, user-independent, and reproducible image data on which physicians can rely, supporting telemedicine advancements in ophthalmology. Occyo One’s patented lens design and automated image acquisition software offer high-quality, widefield single image capture of the eye’s curved surface. Compared to slit lamp photography, it improves image quality, reproducibility and standardization, streamlining documentation workflows. The system’s DICOM compliance facilitates easy clinical workflow integration and supports telemedical applications.
In Q4 2025, Occyo One will be certified for the telemedical use-case, enabling non-specialist medical staff to take precise ocular images and allowing ophthalmologists to perform remote diagnosis, annotation, and reporting based on images. This digital link between patients and doctors can enhance the quality and improve access to professional eye care.
In 2026 Occyo plans to introduce an AI powered image analysis software. This software will make advanced use of Occyo One images, offering diagnostic suggestions based on automated detection and quantification of ocular surface biomarkers such as redness and lesions.
Status
Since its founding in 2019, Occyo has secured 4.4 million euros in funding through customer orders, awards, research grants, and angel investment. The first clinical trial for the Occyo One prototype began in April 2022 at Paracelsus Medical University in Salzburg, Austria. A second clinical trial commenced in 2023 as a multi-site study in Brescia and Milan, Italy, sponsored by the ESCRS. These clinical trials aim to generate rigorous evidence of the image quality and reproducibility of Occyo One. In July 2024 a clinical trial to gather data to prove the safety and feasibility of image-based diagnosis, as intended for the telemedicine scenario, in post cataract surgery will start at Medical University of Innsbruck.
Future
Occyo plans to further develop its solutions to improve quality, cost-efficiency and accessibility of eye care in all levels from primary care to clinical ophthalmologists.