Listen: Occuity invited onto the UK Investor Magazine Podcast

Last week our Co-founder and CEO of Occuity, Dan Daly and CCO and founding investor, Mark Jenkins, were invited to sit down with Jonathan Roy on the UK Investor Magazine Podcast to discuss Occuity’s journey, the technology behind its non-contact optical devices and the company’s vision for transforming eye-based health screening. The conversation explored everything from the origins of Occuity and its growing product portfolio to the global market opportunity, commercial progress and the details behind the company’s current Republic crowdfunding round. 

Listen to the Podcast now here - Watch the Podcast Video, or read the transcript below.  

Below are some key highlights taken from the podcast…

This is an abridged version of the podcast transcript. Some wording has been edited from the original spoken conversation to improve clarity and readability. If anything is unclear, please listen to the relevant section of the podcast or contact us at marketing@occuity.com.

Jonathan Roy Host: Could you introduce yourself, share your background in the industry and give us some context on what Occuity does?

Dan Daly: I’m Dan Daly, Co-founder and CEO of Occuity. My background is in physics and optics – my PhD is in micro-optics, making very small lenses and using light to make precise measurements. I’ve applied that across telecoms, nuclear measurement and medical applications, but I wanted to focus my work where those measurements could have the greatest impact, which is healthcare.

Together with our CTO and co-founder, Robin Taylor – whose background is in biomedical engineering and complex medical systems – we founded Occuity in 2019. Our goal is to use the eye as a measurement site not just for traditional ophthalmology, but as a window on the health of the body. Many systemic diseases, including diabetes and Alzheimer’s, leave markers in the eye. By detecting those non-invasively, we aim to move healthcare towards earlier detection and, ultimately, prevention rather than just treatment of chronic, life-long conditions.

Jonathan Roy: There are already diagnostic tools out there. What is Occuity doing differently, and why does it matter to patients?

Dan Daly: You’re absolutely right that there are tools to diagnose and monitor disease, but many of them are invasive. To measure corneal thickness, you may need to touch the eye; for diabetes you may be pricking fingers repeatedly or wearing skin-piercing patches for days at a time. These tests can be uncomfortable, create a barrier to frequent monitoring and carry a small but real risk of infection or tissue damage.

Occuity’s focus is on non-contact, optical measurements. If you can obtain the same or better information without touching the patient, you improve comfort and safety, and you also open up the possibility of screening outside hospitals – in high street opticians, pharmacies, GP surgeries and, in time, at home. That’s crucial, because diagnosis today often happens only once symptoms appear, and damage has already begun. By enabling painless screening, we can pick up problems like pre-diabetes much earlier and intervene before they become life-changing diseases.

Jonathan Roy: Mark, you were an early investor in Occuity. What attracted you to the company, and how do you see the broader opportunity?

Mark Jenkins: I’m a software developer by background and have started, run and exited several software businesses. I knew Dan and Robin from previous work and was immediately intrigued by their vision for non-invasive screening and handheld optical technology. As an angel investor you see plenty of opportunities, but it’s rare to find one where you can make a significant difference to people’s lives and see the potential for strong financial returns.

What excited me was that Occuity isn’t a single-product play. It’s a platform that runs from relatively simple ophthalmic devices – measuring structures in the eye – through to Oculomics devices that can screen for systemic diseases using eye-based markers.

You’ve got highly qualified teams, multiple PhDs, genuinely novel non-contact handheld devices and very large addressable markets. As the platform matures and more devices are launched, the market can grow substantially.

Jonathan Roy: How are you taking these devices to market? Who are they for, and what kind of demand are you seeing?

Mark Jenkins: Our products fall into two main groups. First are the ophthalmic devices: the PM1, aimed at glaucoma-related measurement, and the AX1, which measures axial length for childhood myopia – a rapidly growing problem worldwide. Second are the Oculomics devices, including diabetes and Alzheimer’s screening tools and the Indigo non-invasive glucose meter.

For the ophthalmic devices we’re using a distributor-led model. Over the last couple of years we’ve built a network that now spans close to 20 distributors around the world. There is strong interest in both PM1, which is already selling, and AX1, where we have, for example, a letter of intent from CooperVision for between 5,000 and 10,000 units per year. Distributors are crucial because they understand local regulatory frameworks and routes into clinics, especially given our size compared to some of the major players.

Jonathan Roy: You’ve mentioned device sales and data. How does the revenue model work now, and how do you see it evolving?

Dan Daly: Initially the PM1 and AX1 follow a straightforward device-sale model. As a small but growing company, maximising near-term revenue from those early products is important to fund operations and further development.

Longer term, as we bring our Oculomics devices to market, we expect to shift towards a device-as-a-service model. That means monthly recurring revenue and, critically, retaining ownership and control of the data generated. As we scan more eyes and build richer datasets, the value of that data increases. We’re already applying AI and neural networks to early datasets and seeing interesting results. Over time, deeper data and better models will enhance clinical value and the overall value of the business.

Jonathan Roy: Can you talk us through the journey since founding in 2019 and where you are today?

Dan Daly: We founded the company in 2019 and spent the first couple of years developing the PM1 for the glaucoma market. That device has since gone through clinical trials with Moorfields Eye Hospital and City, University of London and received CE marking towards the end of 2024. It is now being sold via our global distributor network.

In parallel, we’ve developed the AX1 for myopia. That’s due to go through regulatory approvals in the UK, US and Europe and then roll out through 2026. Just one letter of intent for around 10,000 units per year at roughly $10,000 per device gives a sense of how transformational AX1 could be in revenue terms. Alongside these, we’ve been advancing our Oculomics programmes for diabetes, Alzheimer’s and glucose monitoring, supported by over £4 million in government grants.

Jonathan Roy: You’re raising funds on Republic. Why now, and why have you focused on angels and crowdfunding rather than VCs?

Dan Daly: To date we’ve raised just over £9 million, largely from angel investors, plus around £1.5 million via crowdfunding on Seedrs and now Republic. We have no VCs or institutions on the cap table. That means there are no preferential terms or complex structures – all investors broadly share the same upside, which we feel is fair and attractive.

Our angel base includes optometrists, ophthalmologists and distributors, so they bring sector expertise, contacts and commercial insight as well as capital. Crowdfunding is important because many people have a personal connection to diabetes, Alzheimer’s or myopia and want to back innovation in the field. This current Republic round – targeting £2 million, with around half already raised – comes at a key inflection point: PM1 is generating revenue, AX1 is approaching market, and we’re in active discussions with multiple major ophthalmic manufacturers. Strengthening our balance sheet now allows us to negotiate from a position of strength and continue to scale on our own terms.

Jonathan Roy: What are the potential exit routes for investors, and how do you see the market evolving over the next three to five years?

Mark Jenkins: From an investor perspective, we’ve always seen an IPO – most likely on a Nasdaq market – as a natural route, because Occuity is a multi-product, platform business rather than a single-device story. That said, we’re also in conversation with many of the major global players in ophthalmology and related fields, so a strategic trade sale is another realistic option if the right offer came at the right time.

Dan Daly: Looking ahead, opticians are already evolving from pure eye-care to broader health hubs, adding services like hearing tests and, increasingly, general health checks. That aligns with NHS and government goals to move more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community. We see our devices first being used in high-street practices and pharmacies, and over time moving into the home as personal health devices.

With people now used to home testing, fitness tracking and wellness monitoring, the trend is clearly towards prevention and self-management. Our long-term vision is for Occuity to move from selling devices into clinics to also providing consumer-grade devices supported by powerful AI-driven back-end systems – helping people monitor their health, manage risk and prevent disease via the window of the eye.

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If you’re interested in where the future of eye-based health screening is heading, this episode is well worth a listen.

👉 Invest in Occuity today: https://europe.republic.com/occuity2