Another heavy financing has arrived in the field of eye health.

During the 22nd COOC International Optometry and Vision Science Conference held today, Nthoptic (Suzhou) Optic Technology Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as Nthoptic Vision) announced the completion of tens of millions of yuan in angel round financing. This round of financing was led by Shuimu Ventures and followed by Qingshi Capital. The raised funds will be used to accelerate product innovation, technology research and development, and launch the global multicenter clinical trials of its myopia control product - S.T.O.P KIT.

Nthoptic 's product layout is based on the professional field of consumer-level medical eye care, with not only a product line for myopia prevention and control, but also wearable devices for dry eye syndrome and digital eye care peripherals. Among them, the first product to land, S.T.O.P KIT, has upgraded the principle of myopia prevention and control and innovated in design and product form, bringing breakthrough technological innovation to the global myopia prevention and control market.

"The core competitiveness of Nthoptic lies in research and development innovation capabilities, enterprise operation management capabilities, and our founding team's deep understanding of the professional field of ophthalmology," said Jiajia Gu, founder of Nthoptic. This is also the reason why Nthoptic can receive capital favor this time.

Due to its high-growth and high-technology attributes, the ophthalmology market has become an undisputed "star track" in recent years. Problems such as insufficient research and development innovation and serious product homogeneity have also plagued the industry. Solid research and development capabilities and efficient enterprise operation levels are one of the most important cornerstones for the future development of domestic companies.

Nthoptic collaborates with world-class ophthalmology research centers for innovation, with solid and leading research and development capabilities as the foundation, technological value realization for the eye health field as the path, and a user-centric approach to creating efficient research and development, production, and marketing service value delivery channels. What is interesting is what is the company's industrial layout and team philosophy? With this question in mind, Nthoptic's founder Jiajia Gu shared and revealed the answer.

The "demand for eye care is far from being met", and Nthoptic focuses on the nearsightedness prevention and dry eye treatment track.

The product layout of Nthoptic (Optics Valley of China) largely stems from the team's insight into the market situation.

Firstly, ophthalmology is a market with "unmet demand". On one hand, China has a large number of ophthalmic patients. According to Frost & Sullivan's 2019 statistics, the number of patients with dry eye syndrome and uveitis in China is more than 10 times that of the United States, and the number of patients with allergic conjunctivitis is also more than 200 million higher than that of the United States. The number of patients with cataracts and myopia is also more than 100 million higher than that of similar groups in the United States. On the other hand, the market size of ophthalmic devices and drugs in China is only one-eighth to one-fifth of that in the United States. This means that the domestic demand for ophthalmic treatment is far from being met, and also means that there is still a large room for growth in the domestic ophthalmic device and drug market.

Furthermore, in 2019, the top 10 ophthalmic diseases in terms of patient base in China include refractive errors (especially myopia), conjunctivitis, dry eye syndrome, and cataracts. Among them, China has the largest number of myopia patients in the world, with a population of 630 million, and the number of dry eye syndrome patients has also reached 360 million. That is, from the patient base, myopia and dry eye syndrome rank the top two in the number of ophthalmic patients in China.

In terms of market size, in recent years, with the gradual aggravation of myopia problems among Chinese teenagers, the continuous introduction of supply-side prevention and control measures, and the accelerated layout of vision service institutions in the sinking market, the myopia prevention and control track has ushered in a vigorous development. According to CICC's estimation, the market size of myopia prevention and control in China will reach 210 billion yuan by 2030.

Therefore, the two core product pipelines of Nthoptic are currently focused on the layout of myopia prevention and control and the diagnosis and treatment of dry eye syndrome, with the myopia prevention and control product pipeline being more advanced.

There are still many pain points to be addressed in the existing myopia prevention and control products on the market.

For example, it has been found in clinical practice that the existing defocus lenses on the market can only provide static and fixed defocus stimulation signals, which may lead to saturation of defocus stimulation efficacy. As the wearing time lengthens, the effect of myopia prevention and control will gradually decrease for some myopia patients. Continuously effective myopia prevention and control products for teenagers' growth are one of the focuses of future industry technological development.

In addition, in terms of optics, myopia prevention and control defocus lenses have additional degrees related to the prescription of the lens, which are distributed along the optical axis in a rotational symmetric or asymmetric manner. Due to the use of significant multi-zone or segmental defocus or the use of a large amount of positive spherical aberration or significant changes in luminosity in specific areas of the lens, visual interference may occur, damaging visual quality in other viewing angles, leading to phenomena such as swing effect, image jump, residual aberration, peripheral distortion, and so on.

International renowned experts in optometry, Professor Ravi and Professor Jiawei Chen, introduced the S.T.O.P KIT technology, which stands for "Space-Time Optical Phase". It combines the unique features of both the optical and non-optical peripheral carrier zones. The myopia prevention and control product designed with S.T.O.P KIT technology incorporates both temporal and spatial factors, utilizing complex surface (astigmatism) or asymmetrical directional optical designs to provide directional cues or optical stop signals that can adapt to changes in time and space. This reduces the saturation of therapeutic efficacy caused by changes over time, slows, improves, controls, suppresses, or reduces the rate of myopia progression, and maintains a consistent therapeutic effect over different periods of time. Additionally, S.T.O.P KIT can provide optical stop signal schemes that change hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly, achieving dynamic defocusing technology and enhancing the therapeutic effect of defocus stimuli.

Furthermore, in addition to the standard prescription required for correcting refractive errors, S.T.O.P KIT is equipped with astigmatism or complex surface distribution, which can cause astigmatic blur in the relevant retinal area, providing stop signals that change with time and space to suppress further axial growth and myopia progression.

According to Zhipeng Tang, co-founder of Nthoptic, the S.T.O.P KIT technology has completed clinical visual efficacy experiments, and has been presented at the ARVO, a global authoritative academic conference in ophthalmology. It has also partnered with top ophthalmic medical institutions globally to launch a multi-center clinical trial, and research results will be published in ophthalmology-related academic conferences and journals worldwide. Nthoptic has already planned the global launch roadmap for this product and believes that after its launch, S.T.O.P KIT will become an innovative and breakthrough medical-grade product for the prevention and control of adolescent myopia.

Working with a world-class research and development team, we are committed to making the world's leading eye health products available to users around the world.

It is evident that the technology adopted by S.T.O.P KIT for myopia control is different from most of the products on the market. This "difference" is largely due to the strong collaborative research and development team of Nthoptic Vision.

According to Jiajia Gu, the R&D team of Nthoptic Vision is a research and development institution of international ophthalmic technology, whose members include international leading ophthalmic scientists, world-class ophthalmic technology research and industry transformation experts, interdisciplinary engineers, and senior business development personnel. They have extremely rich experience in ophthalmic innovation research and industry transformation, as well as abundant research and development and transformation achievements.

In addition, the Nthoptic Vision team itself has many years of experience in ophthalmology. Its core management team has been deeply involved in the field of ophthalmology for more than 15 years, and has worked for top ophthalmic companies such as Zeiss and Alcon, accumulating rich corporate management and marketing experience and resources, as well as profound industry understanding.

"As people's awareness of eye health continues to increase, the development space of the ophthalmology industry will become increasingly vast. From the current market situation, this field is highly competitive, but there are also more and greater opportunities and potential - such as products and services for myopia control in adolescents and treatment of dry eye syndrome, which all have significant development opportunities. We also believe that with the completion of this round of financing, Nthoptic Vision will definitely be able to lay a solid foundation for better serving global users and making outstanding contributions to the global innovation and promotion of eye health technology," said Jiajia Gu.

Yi Yan, the Managing Director of Shuimu Venture Capital, said, " Nthoptic Vision is another early layout for us in the field of ophthalmology. The founding team all come from top ophthalmic companies such as Zeiss and Alcon, and the core technology comes from the world's top vision research centers. There is a huge unmet clinical demand in the fields of ophthalmology and dry eye syndrome, and the market prospects are vast. Domestic technology development and product application are still in the early stages. The core team of Nthoptic Vision has a good understanding of each other and strong execution ability. With the accumulation of rich industrial experience in the field of ophthalmology, leading technology research and development capabilities and a complete market sales system, we believe the company can quickly become a leading enterprise in the field of ophthalmology."

About Shuimu Ventures

Shuimu Ventures was established in July 2012 and is a specialized investment institution for the industrialization of scientific and technological achievements and high-tech enterprises under Beijing Tsinghua Industrial Research Institute (TRI). Currently, it has managed five RMB funds. Over the past decade, Shuimu Ventures has focused on investing in hard technology and has invested in approximately 100 hard tech companies, including medical robot start-up Tianzhihang (688277), China's hydrogen industry leader E-Hualu (688339), integrated circuit ultra-precision equipment manufacturer Huazhuo Jingke (already approved for listing on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board), China's only 12-inch wafer chemical mechanical polishing equipment manufacturer Huahai Qingke (in the process of registration for the Sci-Tech Innovation Board), neuroregulation unicorn PinMed, as well as Langshi Instrument, Jetsonic, Daqing Bio, Shengli Technology, Sinocare Joint, Qingpu Technology, Top Medical, ChaoMu Technology, E-Hydrogen Technology, Seqvoia Bio, and ZhenTai Energy, among others.

Zicong Wang, Managing Director of Qing Shi Capital, stated, "The field of ophthalmology is a track we have been paying attention to for a long time, and the field of optometry where Nthoptic operates is the crown jewel of this track. Nowadays, myopia in adolescents has become a social problem that parents and the country attach great importance to. The market is large and it can be foreseen that this is a rapidly growing market. However, the products currently available on the market for myopia prevention and control, such as defocusing mirrors, OK lenses, and eye drops, all have their own pain points and limitations. The market urgently needs a product that can provide long-term stability, comfort, and harmlessness for myopia prevention and control. Nthoptic has provided its own answer to the market. Their S.T.O.P KIT technology adds its own dynamic solution to the traditional defocusing technology, solving the pain point of the declining efficacy of traditional defocusing mirrors for myopia prevention and control over time. At the same time, they are also promoting their own product's global multi-center clinical trials to improve their product's market recognition. We believe that in the near future, with their channel capabilities and excellent product capabilities, Nthoptic will be able to carve out a place for itself in this large market dominated by old players."