VSP Global Provides $2M in Funding to Eye-Care Tech Startup Vizzario

VSP Global has announced a $2 million investment with Vizzario Inc., a California-based startup, to develop eye-care technologies to track visual acuity, eye strain, traumatic brain injury and sports vision performance.

Vizzario operates as a sensory data exchange platform that creates value from data generated by technologies such as smart devices, wearables, eye-tracking tools, electroencephalogram (EEG) systems, virtual reality and augmented reality via head-mounted displays. It uses machine learning, computer vision and deep learning techniques to monitor and predict health outcomes through the analysis of an individual's data.

The partnership was fostered through an ongoing relationship with VSP Global's innovation lab, The Shop, and joins a number of technology-driven alignments the lab has developed with academic institutions such as the University of Southern California's Center for Body Computing.

Sample applications include the ability to track the effects of digital eye strain over a period of time or to screen for traumatic brain injury in contact sports such as football by measuring key areas of the eye-brain connection. Early areas of interest include synching with EEG bands to track eye movement against electrodes in the brain as well as game-based applications designed to create vision benchmarks and improve visual acuity over time.

"Vizzario is rooted in vision, but the platform is capable of taking in a number of other data sets that can start to enrich the understanding of a person's lifestyle and habits,” said CEO Khizer Khaderi.

VSP Global said it will entertain the option for an additional $1 million investment with Vizzario in June. As part of the partnership agreement, VSP Optics Group President Don Oakley has also been appointed to Vizzario's board of directors. The companies expect to have a consumer-facing offering ready to unveil later in the year.