High street hearing test company raises £1.1m to take product to market
A SCOTTISH business that has developed a hearing test that can be used outside a clinical environment has raised a further £1.1 million.
Hearing Diagnostics, the Edinburgh-based healthtech company, is looking at commercialisation in the domestic and US markets following the fundraise.
Led by Archangels, the world’s longest continually running angel investment syndicate, it is claimed the funding “will unlock the spatial hearing screening technology’s market potential”.
Other funders in the raise include Scottish Enterprise through its Scottish Co-investment Fund.
Hearing Diagnostics said its technology makes “testing for hearing loss easy and reliable” while being accessible out with a clinical environment.
The company currently employs five people and intends to expand the team through the latest investment round. It was established by Dr Claudia Freigang and Dr Colin Horne – who both come from a background in hearing research – and has used previous funding from Archangels to develop its Audimetroid screening technology and is now ready to take the product to market.
The firm is targeting expansion into the UK domestic market through audiology retailers as well as high street optical chains which are increasingly building audiology capabilities.
In the US, changes in regulations have seen the over-the-counter hearing aid market open up, creating significant commercial opportunities.
Dr Freigang, a winner at the Women’s Enterprise Scotland Awards 2022, said: “Our mission is to make reliable hearing testing accessible outside of specialist clinics to drive the early diagnosis of hearing loss and to ensure positive patient outcomes. There is a global market potential for our accurate Audimetroid hearing screening technology, and with the latest investment round led by Archangels, we can start unlocking that potential.”
To date, Archangels has invested £1.8m in the firm’s technology across two rounds of investment to support bringing its product to market. Niki Mckenzie, joint managing director at Archangels, said: “We understood the potential commercial opportunity early in the development phase and we’re pleased to continue our support into the next chapter of Hearing Diagnostics.”