Oivi AS, a healthcare startup based out of Norway has secured funding worth $5,00,000 in a pre-seed funding round led by the Indian venture capital firm Arali Ventures. The funding round saw other investors as well from India. With the newly infused capital, the company is expected to augment its research and development program, perform early patient testing and will also look to position its product in the global market.

The healthcare startup focuses on the early detection of diabetic retinopathy, the disease which affects over 160 million people worldwide.

It found that diabetic retinopathy is what causes the blindness among people who are diabetic. The company noted that the lack of awareness, unavailability of the screening devices and other medical equipment and the expensive diagnoses of the disease were the major roadblocks on the way of treating diabetic retinopathy.

As with the early detection of this disease, blindness can be controlled in over 95 per cent of the cases and Oivi is trying to do so by coming up with a hand-held screening device. The managing partner of Arali Ventures, Rajiv Raghunandan said, “Drawing on this vast experience, the team has created a novel optics- and illumination engine capable of providing retinal imaging with unprecedented image quality given its small form factor.”

Founded in 2017 by Anderes Eikenes, Khaleel Udyawar, Jukka Alasirniö and Hans Einar Øverjordet, Oivi AS’s team has a combined experience of 50 years in advanced optis technology. This is not the first time Indian VCs are making investment in startups overseas. Lately, many venture capital firms have been overseas bet.