Occuity Indigo: The Long-Term Vision Driving Occuity’s Mission to Transform Diabetes Care

As our crowdfunding round on Republic moves towards its close, we know that many of our existing and prospective investors are especially interested in the long-term opportunity of a non-invasive glucose meter. It is one of the most significant healthcare challenges of our time - and one of the most compelling commercial opportunities. 

So, we wanted to take this moment to share a deeper dive into our vision for the Occuity Indigo: where the idea came from, why we believe the eye is the right place to measure glucose, and how the journey through PM1 and AX1 is bringing us closer to this ambitious goal.

When our founders, Dr Dan Daly and Dr Robin Taylor started Occuity, they did so with a bold ambition in mind. They wanted to transform how the world monitors one of the most regularly measured biological parameters - glucose levels for diabetes care - and they believed there was a way to do it without needles, patches, pain, or inconvenience. Many companies had tried and failed. Most had approached the problem through the skin. None had solved it. 

Occuity took a different route entirely. 

“From the very beginning, Indigo wasn’t a side project - it was the destination,” Dan says. “Everything we’ve built since has been designed to take us closer to a truly non-invasive glucose meter.” 

For millions of people living with diabetes, the daily routine of glucose monitoring involves constant intrusion. Finger-prick tests puncture the skin several times a day. Continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), whilst a marvellous solution, still rely on a needle that sits within the skin for weeks at a time. It can be uncomfortable, it can cause irritation, and it is unrelenting. For these reasons even CGMs don’t suit everyone. As Dan puts it, “If you’re on insulin, you’ll probably measure your glucose four or five times a day - every day, for the rest of your life. It felt obvious that there had to be a better way.” 

Indigo represents that better way: a handheld, non-invasive glucose meter designed to measure glucose through the eye instead of blood. Elegant, precise, discreet - and built on a technology platform already proven in two other Occuity products, the PM1 Pachymeter and the AX1 Axiometer. 

Where Indigo Began - A Metrology Mindset Applied to Healthcare 

Dan’s background is in high-precision metrology: measuring everything from the plasma at the core of nuclear fusion reactors to optical components one-tenth the width of a human hair. That experience shaped not only how he saw technology, but how he saw opportunity. 

“Having measured incredibly challenging environments with light, I wanted to use that knowledge in a field that would immediately and obviously benefit people,” Dan explains.  

Healthcare offered that opportunity. And within healthcare, diabetes stood out immediately. Few conditions demand such frequent personal testing. For people with Type 2 diabetes, daily measurement is often required. For those using insulin, it may be four to five times a day. 

And for millions every test involves breaking the skin. Every single time. 

“There had to be a better way,” Dan says - a refrain that became the cornerstone of Occuity’s founding ethos. 

Why the Eye? The Insight That Changed Everything 

Most historical attempts at non-invasive glucose monitoring have focused on the skin. Reverse iontophoresis, impedance spectroscopy and other optical and electrical techniques have been tried repeatedly. None have reached commercial success. 

Robin explains why:  “The skin is simply too variable. Hydration, temperature, environmental conditions - there’s too much noise and too much inconsistency.”  

The eye, however, is fundamentally different. It is stable. It must be, for vision to function. It is optically clear. 

And crucially, one part of the eye - the aqueous humour - mirrors blood glucose changes directly because it is an ultra-filtrate of blood. 

“When we learnt that the aqueous humour replicates blood glucose, and is optically accessible, the potential became obvious,” Robin says. “The question then became: can we measure it with enough precision, in a completely non-contact way?” 

Confocal scanning provided the answer. 

The Birth of Indigo - A Different Kind of Optical Measurement 

Confocal microscopy is usually found in high-end scientific instruments. It uses a very tight focus of light scanned through a medium, collecting reflections from specific depths. Occuity’s breakthrough was adapting this principle into a compact, handheld, non-contact medical device.

“With our confocal system, you can detect surfaces with extremely high precision, and can then derive the refractive index of the medium - and that refractive index correlates with glucose concentration,” Robin explains.  

The early prototypes were robust, drawing on well-established components from the telecommunications industry. They allowed rapid scanning - effectively “freezing” the eye to limit motion artefacts. 

Early Clinical Evidence - The Moment It Became Real 

Occuity’s first clinical investigations were carried out with volunteers at the Royal Berkshire Hospital and later at the University of Reading. 

In the initial study on people with Type 2 diabetes, volunteers were measured every 15 minutes over four hours. Eye-based readings from the Indigo prototype were compared directly with blood samples analysed using laboratory-grade equipment. 

The independent statistical analysis showed a statistically significant correlation (p < 0.0001). A pivotal breakthrough - especially given the limitations of the early hardware.  

Figure 2. The results obtained from one individual measured from mid-day to late afternoon. Glucose levels measured via the eye (green) and blood (red).

In the second study on people with Type 1 diabetes at Reading University, eye measurements taken every five minutes were compared with blood glucose changes as participants ate a high carbohydrate meal, and their glucose levels rose. The eye data tracked the trend consistently: low, rising, and high. 

“We knew then this wasn’t theoretical,” Dan says. “We were observing glucose behaviour optically, in real time.” 

The noise that remained in the data - caused largely by alignment and motion artefacts - became the next engineering challenge to solve. 

A Major Leap Forward - Confocal + Low Coherence Interferometry 

Supported by a UK government grant, the Occuity engineering team advanced the technology significantly. They combined confocal scanning with Low Coherence Interferometry (LCI) - the new dual channel technique being capable of far higher precision than the earlier methodology as it removed some of the key sources of noise. 

“So far, the new system has only been tested in vitro,” Robin explains, “but the results are extremely encouraging. We prepared glucose solutions across the physiological range and the readings are now approaching the accuracy levels required by ISO15197.”  

Reaching this threshold is one of the final scientific challenges before full in-vivo trials. 

The Strategic Pivot - How PM1 and AX1 Moved Indigo Forward 

For a start-up, sequencing development is often as important as the technology itself. Occuity therefore made an early and deliberate strategic decision: rather than focus solely on developing Indigo, the company set out to build a scalable technology platform on which multiple devices could be developed and commercialised. 

That pathway began with the PM1. Through the development of the PM1 - and the foundational work already underway on Indigo - the concept for the AX1 emerged. PM1 and AX1 were deliberately advanced first because they could commercialise the platform, build revenue, generate clinical and regulatory experience, and ultimately de-risk Indigo’s route to market. 

Occuity's Product Roadmap

“PM1 and AX1 have accelerated Indigo,” Dan says. “The AX1 architecture - the alignment system, the scanning platform, the eye-safety framework - is fundamentally the Indigo architecture. By developing them, we strengthened the foundations Indigo depends on.” 

In practical terms, the AX1 effectively combines Indigo’s measurement engine into the PM1 case. Work carried out on these devices feeds directly back into Indigo’s readiness. 

Designing Indigo - Making Advanced Technology Feel Human

Alongside the technical development, the design philosophy behind Indigo has been equally important. 

Whilst the prototype concepts aren’t necessarily what the final device will look like, they still showcase how the device will feel: natural in the hand, effortless to use, and discreet enough for everyday life. 

Daniele De Iuliis, Occuity's Design Director, says: 

Occuity Indigo Concept Device

“The ambition is simple: a device that fits naturally into someone’s life. Not medical machinery - something you wouldn’t think twice about carrying with you.” 

This means careful attention to ergonomics, surface finishes, colour and material choices, interface simplicity, and the emotional experience of use. Diabetes management is profoundly personal. A glucose meter should respect that. 

Indigo’s form reflects Occuity’s wider design ethos: elegance, clarity, and removing friction from daily measurement routines. A device that supports independence rather than interrupting it. 

Where Indigo Stands Today - And What Comes Next 

Occuity's next step is to prepare a handheld prototype based on the AX1 architecture, configured for glucose measurement using the confocal + LCI system. This device will be used initially for small-scale in-vivo studies, followed by larger scale clinical trials. 

Each step moves Indigo closer to regulatory approval - and to market. 

As Dan explains, “We’ve overcome some of the hardest technical challenges already. The next steps are engineering integration, clinical validation, and scaling. The foundations are all there.” 

Given the vast scale of the diabetes market – 830 million people today, projected to reach 1.3 billion by 2050 (WHO figures) - and the estimated $17.2bn value of the glucose monitoring sector, the opportunity is enormous. And the preference among users is clear: most people would choose a pain-free, non-invasive solution if it existed.  

Indigo is being developed to meet that exact need. 

A Vision Worth Pursuing 

For Dan, Robin, and the entire Occuity team, Indigo is more than a product. It is the culmination of a belief that advanced optics can meaningfully improve human lives. 

“Glucose monitoring won’t have to involve pain,” Dan says. “It won’t have to involve needles. If we can deliver Indigo - and we believe we can - the impact on hundreds of millions of people could be profound. That’s what drives us.” 

Every step taken - from PM1 to AX1, from early confocal trials to LCI breakthroughs - has brought Indigo closer to reality. 

For investors watching the platform mature, Indigo represents not just a powerful commercial opportunity, but the fulfilment of a vision that has anchored Occuity from day one. 

The future of glucose monitoring doesn’t have to look like the past. And with Indigo, Occuity intends to prove exactly that. 

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