New Zealand’s Toku Eyes, a developer of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered diagnostic and screening tools for retinal imaging, announced Topcon Healthcare and National Vision have invested US$8 million (NZ$13.1m) in the company.

Toku co-founder and CEO, Associate Professor Ehsan Vaghefi said he could not comment on the proportion of his company the investment represented; however, he said National Vision, one of the US’ largest optical retailers, and Topcon, a well-known, international provider of medical devices and software solutions, are now both major shareholders.

Over 80% of cardiac events and diabetes-related blindness could be prevented by identifying risk and applying targeted interventions, said A/Prof Vaghefi. “We are building a future in which more people have affordable access to this critical health data, all from analysing a retinal image. This is an opportunity to help shape AI technologies that will prioritise better outcomes for patients and deepen the quality of care we’re able to provide.”

Topcon supports technology for early detection of diseases of and through the eye, said Akifumi Baba, president of Topcon Medical Systems. “Toku’s retinal image analysis technology will do just that… We are excited to provide our data-science expertise to Toku and to welcome them as our first Entrepreneur in Residence.”