IP Ventures backs AI-based retinal diagnostic startup Leben Care

Artificial intelligence-powered retinal diagnostic startup Leben Care Technologies has raised an undisclosed amount as angel funding from Inflection Point (IP) Ventures, an investment initiative floated by a group of chief financial officers and finance professionals working at Indian startups.

The startup will use the funds to strengthen its product, sales and marketing teams, an offiicial statement said today.

Its flagship product Netra.ai enables automated analysis of retina image using AI algorithms that can be used by technicians, nurses and optometrists to conduct basic screening with minimal specialist intervention. The solution analyses fundus photographs for a host of retinal conditions, including diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular edema.

Leben plans to expand the scope of analysis to other conditions including glaucoma and age-related macular edema.

“We are on a mission to fight avoidable blindness using AI and hope to make this technology available to millions who struggle to get access to basic screening,” Nitin Srivastava, co-founder, Leben Care said. “Our platform Netra.ai is intended to be the go-to place for all ophthalmology related AI solutions.” 

The company is now operational in India, Japan, China, Singapore, Africa and Australia through partnerships with distributors and ophthalmology centres. In India, its clients include St. Johns Medical College, Giridhar Eye Institute, Mach7, Telomeres, Cosmotec  and Tonghua Eye Hospital.

“In our country and even worldwide, there is a huge supply deficit when it comes to screening and diagnostic ophthalmology services,” Mitesh Shah, co-founder of IP Ventures, said. “Leben Care is using AI and scalable technology to address this problem.” 

Founded in 2017, IP Ventures is a sub-initiative of CXO Genie, a networking platform for executives. Its founding members include former Myntra CFO Dipanjan Basu and BookMyShow finance head Mitesh Shah.

Its most recent investment was in the Internet-of -Things-based logistics startup Intugine Technologies Pvt. Ltd. 

Last month, the group invested an undisclosed amount in an industrial IoT startup, which provides real-time micro-locations for people and other important assets in sectors like defence, automobile, healthcare, manufacturing and education.

The early-stage investment group has also funded other startups like the Noida-based sports app Sportido and chat-based task management platform Wishup.