Company · 5 min read
Glassless secures €150,000 investment through the VITA Digital Health Accelerator
The company joins CDP's National Accelerator Network, receiving a €150,000 investment package to accelerate the development and validation of its vision-correcting technology.
Milan, Italy — 6 November 2024. Glassless has been selected for the VITA Digital Health Accelerator, part of the National Accelerator Network of CDP Venture Capital, following the programme's final selection process in Milan.
A specialised digital health accelerator
VITA is a specialised accelerator dedicated to digital health startups, launched by CDP Venture Capital together with Healthware Group and Accelerace. The programme supports early-stage companies developing innovative solutions for healthcare and aims to strengthen Italy's digital health ecosystem by connecting startups with healthcare organisations, corporate partners, investors and international industry experts.
From technical validation to healthcare applications
For Glassless, the programme represents an important step in moving its technology from technical development and validation towards healthcare and commercial applications. The company is developing software that pre-compensates digital content for the effects of presbyopia, adapting what appears on a screen to the user's visual profile with the aim of enabling people to interact with digital devices without relying on reading glasses.
The VITA programme is particularly relevant to Glassless as the company continues to explore the intersection between consumer technology, vision care and digital health. Access to specialists with experience across healthcare innovation, product development and commercialisation provides the team with an opportunity to better understand the requirements involved in bringing a vision-related technology into the market.
Innovation Challenges with corporate partners
The programme also connects participating companies with VITA's wider digital health ecosystem, including corporate partners, hospitals, patient associations, investors and international health innovation organisations. Selected startups are given opportunities to work on Innovation Challenges with partners including Petrone Group and SIFI Group, with the potential to develop and continue proof-of-concept collaborations beyond the programme.
“We are incredibly excited to join VITA. The investment is an important milestone for Glassless, but what really attracted us to the programme was the depth of the ecosystem around it. We are building a technology at the intersection of digital health, vision and consumer technology, and having access to people who have taken healthcare products from early development through validation and into the market is incredibly valuable.”
Ecosystem, mentorship and Demo Day
The VITA programme will support Glassless as it continues developing its vision-correcting technology, expanding human validation and exploring partnerships that could enable the technology to be integrated into digital devices and applications.
The company will also gain access to the wider VITA and CDP Venture Capital ecosystem, including international digital health networks and Frontiers Health, one of Europe's leading digital health events. The 2024 VITA programme culminated in a Demo Day held in Milan as part of Frontiers Health Italia, bringing together the participating startups, investors, industry experts and healthcare ecosystem stakeholders.
About VITA Digital Health Accelerator
VITA is the Digital Health Accelerator of CDP's National Accelerator Network, launched by CDP Venture Capital together with Healthware Group and Accelerace. The programme is designed to support pre-seed and seed-stage digital health startups and connect them with leading healthcare organisations, corporates, investors and international innovation networks. Beyond the investment, VITA provides a four-month, hybrid acceleration programme combining expert workshops, one-to-one mentoring, business development support and opportunities to develop proof-of-concept projects with corporate partners. Each startup is assigned an end-to-end mentor, while the programme provides access to more than 100 experts and mentors across digital health, product development, business development, fundraising and related fields.
About Glassless
Glassless is developing vision-correcting software designed to enable people with presbyopia to interact with digital devices without reading glasses. The technology pre-compensates digital content for the user's visual impairment, with the aim of integrating directly into smartphones, applications and other digital platforms.
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