Zilia
Zilia has developed an innovative, non-invasive platform technology that uses imaging, spectrometry, and artificial intelligence to measure, quantitatively and in real-time, different biomarkers in the human eye. Zilia’s first product, Zilia Ocular, is the first retinal camera to quantify oxygen saturation, a crucial factor in three of the most prevalent diseases of the eye: glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and age-related macular degeneration. By generating new, accurate insights about the eye’s metabolic activity, Zilia aims to revolutionize the prevention, diagnosis, and management of these potentially blinding diseases.
Zilia’s user-friendly, cloud-based, interactive analytical software powered by artificial intelligence provides robust and accurate data used for the screening, assessment, and monitoring of diseases. By enabling researchers and eye-care professionals to gain insight into the metabolic and processes of these diseases early-on, Zilia aims to have a significant impact on the health of patients, treatment outcomes, health care costs, and quality of life.
Zilia’s competition in the ocular oximetry category includes two companies located in Europe. Both technologies provided by these companies have important drawbacks in terms of precision, repeatability, and versatility which have greatly limited their use in clinical settings. Zilia aims to
Establish itself at the gold standard in eye care by providing continuous and quantitative measurements and by leveraging AI for increased accuracy.
Traction
Zilia Ocular, has been launched to the research market in 2019 and has gained instant traction. Zilia is about to begin research protocols on retinal oximetry with seven of the most prestigious universities in North America and the number of research partnerships is expected to rise continuously over the next months as a high number of new educational institutions have expressed their interest to include Zilia’s technology in their investigations. At the same time, Zilia’s regulatory team has expanded over the last months to support the company’s efforts in obtaining FDA and Health Canada certifications, which represents Zilia’s biggest hurdle at this time. Finally, Zilia’s team has also recently published in the prestigious journal Scientific Reports its first research paper presenting a revolutionary AI-based algorithmic approach to ocular oximetry.
Among the biggest challenges for Zilia during the next years is certainly the expansion towards other fields of medicine. Indeed, with the exact same hardware and platform, Zilia can assess a vast array of biomarkers present in the eye. Potential applications range from neurology, cardiology, oncology to intensive care, and more. In fact, work is already underway to expand capacities towards assessing a critical biomarker of neurological disease. To succeed, Zilia will need to continue to expand and solidify its collaborative partnerships with the research community.
Team
Zilia has been founded by its CEO, Dr Patrick Sauvageau and his brother Dominic, who is the company’s CTO. Patrick is an experienced entrepreneur and a trained optometrist while Dominic is an associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Alberta. The two co-founders are backed by an exceptional scientific advisory board and a diversified team of 16 talented employees with expertise in biophotonics, imaging, AI, software engineering, finance, and business development.
Funding
Following its fast-growing successes, Zilia is looking to continuously pursue its growth trajectory by expanding its R&D team. They plan to onboard more software engineers and optics and photonics specialists.
Details
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