Redwood City is not where most glaucoma stories begin. They usually start in exam rooms, in half whispers, in the slow realization that vision is slipping and time is not patient. But in 2017, a...
Redwood City is not where most glaucoma stories begin. They usually start in exam rooms, in half whispers, in the slow realization that vision is slipping and time is not patient. But in 2017, a different kind of story started at the University of Pennsylvania, when Rui Jing Jiang, Brandon Kao, and Adarsh Battu looked at nanotechnology and saw more than a lab experiment. They saw a way to relieve pressure, literally and figuratively.
Fast forward. Avisi Technologies just secured $10.7M in Series A financing led by MedVenture Partners, with Sherpa Healthcare Partners, SNBL-Gemseki, SBI US Gateway Fund, Golden Seeds, and OneOneFive stepping in. Existing believers Good Growth Capital, Accanto Partners, Life Sciences Greenhouse Investment, and Quaker Capital Investments doubled down. Capital is a vote. Repeat votes are conviction.
VisiPlate is the headline act. An investigational, nanotechnology-enabled ocular implant designed to lower intraocular pressure in open-angle glaucoma by improving aqueous outflow. A metamaterial structure thinner than a human hair. Think about that. In a world where ego is loud, this device is quiet. Small enough to be invisible. Precise enough to matter. In glaucoma, pressure is the villain. Avisi builds relief you can barely see but cannot afford to ignore.
The FDA granted IDE approval for the SAPPHIRE pivotal trial in 2025. In December 2025, Dr. Kiersten Snyder implanted the first patient at Sacramento Eye Consultants, with Dr. Jacob W. Brubaker serving as Principal Investigator. Around 65 participants across 13 sites. Clinical-stage means discipline. It means data before declarations. It means earning every inch.
Rui Jing Jiang, Founder, CEO, and Director, has been building this since Wharton days, turning a Penn spinout into a Bay Area contender. Brandon Kao, Founder and Director, remains part of the core. Around them is a team that reads like a medtech roll call: Kim Du, CCRP, Senior Director of Clinical Operations driving execution; Jeff Emery, PhD, SVP of R&D and Operations leading the science; Georgia Griggs, MSE, Principal Engineer and Site Head translating theory into hardware. On the board, Catherine Mohr, MD, MSME, Director; Gary Pruden, Director; Paul Norris, JD, Director; and now Justin Fukuyama, MS, MBA, Partner at MedVenture Partners and Director, joining with the Series A. Experience stacked with intention.
The seed was $4.06M in December 2022 led by Accanto Partners. Add non-dilutive support from the National Science Foundation and recognition from the Glaucoma Research Foundation, Johnson and Johnson JLABS, MedTech Innovator, UCSF Rosenman Institute, and SXSW. This is what compounding belief looks like.
Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. Millions of patients. A problem measured in pressure and time. Avisi Technologies is betting that better materials make better medicine. Not louder. Better. And when you build something thinner than a hair to protect something as irreplaceable as sight, you start to understand the difference between noise and signal.