Optain Health Nets $26 Million in Latest Financing Round

Optain Health is significantly more solvent these days, having closed an oversubscribed $26 million Series A financing round led by global software investor Insight Partners.

Oculomics—the science of using the eye as a window into whole-body health—powers Optain’s platform. Its portable robotic camera captures retinal images rapidly without requiring pupil dilation. Integrated AI workflows detect sight-threatening eye diseases, including diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration, and assess cardiovascular disease risk. In the United States, Optain delivers rapid teleophthalmology grading to screen for diabetic retinopathy and more. Optain’s technology expands access to oculomics into primary care, optometry, and beyond, with minimal specialist staffing or workflow disruption.

“Our mission is simple: faster, easier, more equitable disease screening,” Optain CEO Jeff Dunkel said. “After two years of major international growth, we are ready to scale in the U.S. This Series A funds our enterprise deployments, opens new markets, and pushes the frontier of what the retina can reveal.”

Strategic health system and global investor participation: Insight was joined by seven leading health system investors, among them: Memorial Hermann Health System, Northwell Health, Novant Health, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, and UPMC. Together, these systems deliver care to 28 million patients in 25 states. Each will begin deploying Optain’s platform throughout their networks to expand screening access, close care gaps, and improve outcomes. Additional investors, including Informed Ventures, Lumio Capital, Meridian Ventures, and the UniQuest Extension Fund will accelerate the growth of Optain’s global footprint in Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.

“Optain represents our conviction in the power of better AI—deployed at the edge, inside clinical workflows,” Insight Partners Managing Director Scott Barclay stated. “By making retinopathy screening truly accessible, Optain is already changing care delivery—and we believe it will become the upstream gateway in primary care for AI-driven diagnoses across many conditions.”

Optain was co-created in 2023 by Aegis Ventures, which also formed the Aegis Digital Consortium, a collaboration of 11 regional U.S. health systems to co-develop artificial intelligence (AI)-driven healthtech companies. “Early retinal screening for diabetic retinopathy and chronic disease closes a critical care gap,” commented Dr. John Noseworthy, chairman of the Aegis Digital Consortium and Emeritus CEO of Mayo Clinic. “Clinicians have been waiting for a solution that meets patients where they are, and Optain is delivering a best-in-class product that is achieving real adoption. By deploying Optain in patient care and investing in the company, Consortium members have shown strong confidence in its value for enabling early detection and better outcomes.”

Dr. Noseworthy will join Optain’s board as an observer, representing the strategic health systems.

Optain’s technology builds on more than a decade of research led by Professor Mingguang He  in Australia. “We’re proud to be translating world-class Australian science into real-world impact,” Optain President Dr. Zachary Tan stated. “We are making significant investments in new Australian R&D and growing our local team, who will lead our global expansion outside of the U.S. Exporting Australian AI innovation to improve equitable access to healthcare and patient outcomes around the world is a mission we are proud to lead.”

Optain transforms preventive health with AI-enabled software and hardware that deliver real-time, non-invasive detection of eye and systemic conditions. Its portable robotic retinal camera, AI, and teleophthalmology service give clinicians an affordable point-of-care tool to close care gaps, reduce avoidable costs, and improve patient outcomes.

Insight Partners is a global software investor partnering with high-growth technology, software, and Internet startup and scaleup companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. As of Dec. 31, 2024, the firm had more than $90 billion in regulatory assets under management. Insight Partners has invested in more than 800 companies worldwide and has seen over 55 portfolio companies achieve an IPO. Headquartered in New York City, Insight has offices in London, Tel Aviv, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Insight’s mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with tailored, hands-on software expertise along their growth journey, from their first investment to IPO.