This is a monthly column that highlights five interesting deals each month that may have flown under the radar. Check out last month’s entries here.
Summer is upon us and it’s the perfect time to take a break from tech news and have some fun.
If so, you may have missed some interesting funding this month. Don’t worry, we’re here with some of the ones that caught our eye, starting with ophthalmology startups.
Check your eyes
Typically, when we talk about healthcare and AI, it’s in relation to biotech companies using the technology to improve treatments or aid in the clinical trial process.
But this month, Eyebot secured $6 million led by AllyCorp and Ubiquiti Ventures for a different business model: The Boston-based startup wants to build a network of AI-powered kiosks that offer 90-second eye tests.
Yes, self-service, quick vision testing without the need for an optometrist. We scan our own groceries, so why not be our own eye doctor? The prescription that comes out of the kiosk is actually finalized by a telemedicine doctor, but still, no traditional eye appointment is required. Given the optometrist workforce shortage, this may be a good thing.
The startup aims to roll out kiosks that look like old-fashioned arcade machines in shopping centers, pharmacies and other locations across the Northeast in October before scaling up next year.
Please pay attention!
Audio Hints
Now moving from “seeing” to “speaking,” Canary Speech is next on the list, having raised $13 million in a Series A funding round led by Cortes Capital.
The Provo, Utah-based AI-powered voice biomarker health tech startup uses patented voice analytics to screen for mental health and neurological disorders.
Canary’s voice biomarker technology can capture and analyze voice data virtually within seconds to identify abnormalities in behavior and cognitive changes, exceeding current clinical screening standards and detecting disorders such as anxiety, depression and dementia before they manifest noticeable symptoms.
Canary’s ambient listening tool can not only assess the well-being of patients, but also that of physicians at the same time, which is more important than ever given that the American Medical Association reported that approximately 63% of physicians experienced symptoms of burnout at the end of 2021.
AI for Social Media
Have you ever felt lonely on social media and needed a friend?
Well, now you can create it, or at least use AI to create it.
Butterflies.AI secured a $4.8 million seed round led by Coatue in June. The Bellevue, Washington-based startup is building a social media platform where humans and AI can “coexist” by allowing users to create AI friends.
The platform uses AI models to allow users to create new “friends” in just a few minutes. The AI personas are detailed, complete with their profile, background, and even emotions. Users can then create and interact with other users and AI personas on the platform.
To be honest, we don’t fully understand that idea. Isn’t the purpose of social media to argue with people who don’t think the same way as you? Not to make friends.
Out of the echo chamber
How people consume news and where they get their information has evolved significantly over the past few decades.
Many news outlets have disappeared, newspapers have all but disappeared, and people seem perfectly happy to just have the news delivered to them the way they want it, and that expresses their views.
That’s why news reader startup Particle.News caught our eye this month: The Northern California-based startup is looking to partner with publishers where its AI won’t just summarize the news, but actually help readers understand an article better and from different angles by using artificial intelligence to summarize articles from different publishers.
The business model caught the attention of investors this month, garnering $10.9 million in Series A funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.
The company also signed a deal with Reuters to source news content for its service.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Many people think that people just want to read the news in their own echo chambers. Maybe that’s not the case.
It’s not a tire fire
We’ve all driven past tire yards where used rubber has been left as an eyesore.
LDCarbon has secured $28 million in Series C funding to address that very problem, with the new round led by Toyota’s growth fund, Woven Capital.
The Seoul, South Korea-based company has developed technology to recycle used tires and other auto parts into recovered carbon black and pyrolysis oil.
These products are then used to manufacture new car parts and tires, and the cycle continues. The company strives to solve the significant pollution problem that results from the incineration of old cars and tires, while at the same time helping auto manufacturers meet their sustainability goals and regulatory requirements.
The company is building Asia’s largest tire pyrolysis plant, which it says will be able to recover nearly 100 percent of waste tires through its pyrolysis and material recovery process.
Illustration: Dom Guzman
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