A Nashville-based mobile-tech company has a new multimillion-dollar investment, bringing its total funds raised to $26 million.
GoCheck Kids has raised a $10 million Series B round of funding led by Hatteras Venture Partners and Pisgah Fund, according to a news release. New investors CU Healthcare Innovation Fund and WakeMed Hospitals Innovation Venture Fund, and existing investors Marc Benioff (CEO of Salesforce), Interwest Partners, FCA Venture Partners, Sovereign’s Capital and Mucker Capital also participated in the round.
GoCheck Kids, whose app screens children for vision impairments, moved its headquarters from Silicon Valley to Nashville in 2018.
"We are striving for a future where everyone everywhere can see and fulfill their potential, and children, parents and providers are no longer in the dark,” Kevon Saber, CEO of GoCheck, said in the release. “This financing is a step toward this brighter future and a testament to both the massive unmet need for pediatric vision screening and the resolve of GoCheck's teammates."
The funding will be used to grow the company’s team, platform and customer partnerships, according to the release.
"GoCheck Kids' artificial intelligence breakthroughs have finally enabled pediatric providers to avoid both upfront capital investment for vision screening and the tragedy of permanent vision loss in children," said John Crumpler, general partner at Hatteras Venture Partners, in the release. "We believe GoCheck's team has the potential to revolutionize vision care in America and the rest of the world by accelerating access and equity, and also lower health care costs."
Launched in 2015, GoCheck Kids is a smartphone app that allows pediatricians to screen children as young as 6 months old for potentially dangerous eye diseases.
The pediatrician takes a photo of the patient and GoCheck’s software detects risk factors for amblyopia (lazy eye), refractive error (near/far-sightedness) and retinoblastoma (fatal childhood cancer). Saber said 80% of vision impairments can be prevented or cured if detected early.
The company raised a $6 million Series B round of funding in 2019, led by FCA Venture Partners.
GoCheck has been in growth mode since arriving in Music City, expanding its customer base from about 2,750 pediatricians to 6,500. The company has screened more than 2.5 million patients to date.
