Start Up Nation: OrCam

We had the opportunity to speak with OrCam’s Motti Attia Regional Manager – East. OrCam.  OrCam develops and manufactures assistive technology devices for individuals who are visually impaired, partially sighted, blind, print disabilities, or have other disabilities. CEO Ziv Aviram announced  this week that OrCam has completed a funding round that values the company at $1 billion, putting it on track for a planned initial public offering (IPO).

OrCam Technologies Ltd was founded in by Professor Amnon Shashua and Ziv Aviram. Before co-founding OrCam, the two in 1999 co-founded Mobileye, an Israeli company that develops vision-based advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) providing warnings for collision prevention and mitigation, which was acquired by Intel for $15.3 billion in 2017. OrCam launched OrCam MyEye in 2013 after years of development and testing, and began selling it commercially in 2015. In its early years, the company raised $22 million, $6 million of which from Intel Capital. In March 2017, OrCam had raised $41 million in capital, making it worth $600 million.Today, OrCam has over 150 employees, is headquartered in Jerusalem, and has offices in New York, Toronto, and London.

OrCam Technologies Ltd has created three devices; OrCam MyEye2.0, OrCam MyEye 1, and OrCam MyReader.

OrCam MyEye 2.0

• OrCam debuted the second-generation model, the OrCam MyEye 2.0 in December 2017.
• About the size of a finger, the MyEye 2.0 is battery-powered, and has been compressed into a self-contained device.
• The device snaps onto any eyeglass frame magnetically.
• Orcam 2.0 is smaller and lighter (only 22.5 grams/0.8 ounces) with more functionality to restore independence to the visually impaired.