Health Innovation
5 Early-Stage Hearing and Vision Care Startups
Five early-stage startups working on different needs in hearing and eye care, from assessment and rehabilitation to therapeutic development.
- Hearing Health
- Ophthalmology
- Diagnostics
- Digital Health
- Therapeutics
At a Glance
- BrainphonicsBelgium2024Objective brain-response hearing assessment
- CelesBelgium2024Home auditory training with audiologist follow-up
- CamGene TherapeuticsUnited Kingdom2023RNA medicines targeting inner-ear cell health
- 26 TherapeuticsCanada2026Topical treatment targeting eyelid oil glands
- NeraiSwitzerland2025Genome editors for inherited retinal and liver disease
Providing hearing tests that measure brain responses to natural speech.
- Country
Belgium- Founded
- 2024
- Sector
- Diagnostics
- Funding stage
- Seed or earlier
Why Brainphonics stands out
Brainphonics has converted KU Leuven's research on neural speech tracking into CORGEE, a CE-certified medical device that records how the brain responds to natural speech. This makes its measurement approach especially relevant where speech testing based on verbal or behavioural responses is difficult.
CORGEE was evaluated with 100 children using hearing aids or cochlear implants, working with University Hospital Leuven and three rehabilitation centres. Brainphonics has also secured more than €70,000 in CrossCare innovation support, building on a programme of research into objective hearing assessment.
What Brainphonics is building
CORGEE uses electroencephalography (EEG), which records electrical activity through sensors on the head, to measure neural speech tracking, the relationship between natural speech features and the listener's brain response.
For audiologists, the technology offers another way to understand how patients process speech and respond to hearing devices, particularly when conventional speech tests are difficult to complete.
02
Celes
Providing a home hearing-training app with audiologist follow-up
- Country
- Belgium
- Founded
- 2024
- Sector
- Digital health
- Funding stage
- Seed or earlier
- Founders
Why Celes stands out
Celes brings structured rehabilitation into patients' homes, where listening challenges often continue after a hearing-device fitting. In an eight-week randomized study of ALICE, with 65 participants completing each study group, researchers observed improvements on an untrained speech-in-noise test, which assesses understanding of speech against background sounds.
The startup emerged from KU Leuven's ExpORL research group. Co-founder Céline Jacobs previously managed a hearing-care practice and founded Audioknowledgy, bringing direct clinical-workflow and professional-education experience.
What Celes is building
ALICE is a smartphone auditory-training programme offering structured listening practice and communication guidance at home. An audiologist, a hearing-care specialist, can monitor progress and engagement through a professional dashboard.
By connecting regular home practice with audiologist follow-up, Celes is making hearing rehabilitation a more continuous part of care. Its ability to fit into clinical routines could be as important as the exercises themselves.
Developing RNA medicines to treat hearing loss by protecting inner-ear cells.
- Country
United Kingdom- Founded
- 2023
- Sector
- Biotech
- Funding stage
- Seed or earlier
Why CamGene Therapeutics stands out
CamGene combines RNA-development experience with clinical expertise in hearing care. It closed an oversubscribed seed round in October 2025 led by UKI2S, with Eos Advisory and Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, and received a £196,194 Innovate UK award supporting human-representative in vitro ear models.
The founders bring experience that connects drug development with specialist ear care. Manohar Bance has led work on a separate hearing-loss gene-therapy trial, while Matthew Smith is a consultant ear surgeon at Addenbrooke's. Their clinical backgrounds complement CamGene's focus on RNA-based medicines.
What CamGene Therapeutics is building
CamGene is developing RNA medicines intended to protect and regenerate inner-ear cells, initially in a setting designed to complement cochlear implantation. RNA therapeutics use RNA to influence cellular processes or the proteins cells make.
The cochlea, the sound-sensing structure of the inner ear, presents a demanding target for drug delivery. CamGene is developing its programme around protecting inner-ear cells, with an initial focus on treatment alongside cochlear implantation.
Developing topical medicines to restore eyelid gland function in dry eye disease.
- Country
Canada- Founded
- 2026
- Sector
- Biotech
- Funding stage
- Seed or earlier
- Founders
- Martin Petkovich
- Jacob Rullo
- Tracie Pennimpede
Why 26 Therapeutics stands out
26 Therapeutics is pursuing the underlying gland dysfunction associated with evaporative dry eye. In preclinical studies, its CYP26B1-inhibitor programme restored meibomian gland function, increased tear production and reduced corneal damage. Meibomian glands sit along the eyelids and produce the oil that helps stop tears from evaporating too quickly.
The founding team combines scientific expertise in retinoic-acid biology with ophthalmology. Martin Petkovich previously built Cytochroma, acquired by OPKO in 2013 for $100 million upfront in stock and potential milestones; adMare supplied pre-seed capital and development support.
What 26 Therapeutics is building
Its topical medicine is designed to restore the function of these eyelid glands and support the natural oil layer of the tear film, the protective liquid coating the eye. The strategy aims to address a source of tear-film instability through local treatment.
For a condition often managed through ongoing symptom relief, restoring the function of oil-producing glands would represent a different therapeutic approach. The next question is how the preclinical mechanism translates into a treatment suitable for patients.
05
Nerai
Developing tailored genome editors for inherited liver and retinal diseases.
- Country
Switzerland- Founded
- 2025
- Sector
- Biotech
- Funding stage
- Seed or earlier
Why Nerai stands out
Nerai is a University of Zurich spinout developing genome editors for inherited diseases of the liver and retina. Its relevance to vision care comes from the retinal application of a broader platform designed to reach disease-causing genetic changes that existing editing tools may struggle to address.
The team combines scientific work in precision genome editing with venture-building experience. Co-founder Kim Marquart led research on a compact TnpB editor, characterized across 10,211 target sites, while Vincent Forster previously built Versantis, acquired by GENFIT in 2022. Nerai has also received CHF 150,000 in Venture Kick support.
What Nerai is building
Nerai engineers genome editors, tools designed to change selected DNA sequences, using protein design and cellular testing to expand the range of mutations they can address. Its development work includes inherited retinal diseases, in which genetic changes affect the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye.
The platform also has a liver-disease focus. In earlier academic research, members of the founding team demonstrated RNA prime editing in a mouse model of phenylketonuria, providing a foundation for the broader editing approach. The retinal application will require its own tissue-specific development and validation.
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Investment perspective
The opportunities in this group differ in how they create value. An objective hearing test can become useful when its measurements help audiologists understand patients more clearly. A rehabilitation app must fit into the routines of both hearing-device users and the professionals supporting them. Each relies on practical use as well as technical performance.
Therapeutic development places more weight on biological mechanisms and the ability to reach specific tissues. CamGene is addressing inner-ear cells with RNA medicines; 26 Therapeutics is targeting the oil-producing glands of the eyelids; and Nerai is engineering tools to edit disease-associated DNA in different organs. The evidence needed to advance each programme will follow the underlying biology and delivery method.
For investors, this makes sensory health a collection of specific opportunities rather than a single market. The strongest signals will come from evidence that resolves the practical question facing each product: reliable assessment, sustained participation in rehabilitation or convincing translation of a therapeutic mechanism.
Methodology
DealBio selected these five early-stage health startups to illustrate distinct approaches to hearing and eye care. The selection includes brain-response hearing assessment, home auditory rehabilitation, inner-ear RNA medicines, topical treatment for meibomian-gland dysfunction and a genome-editing platform with an inherited retinal disease focus. DealBio builds its Startup Briefs using publicly available startup materials, ecosystem sources, market references and professional profiles.