Diagnosing eye diseases requires bulky machines and specialist clinics, which are often concentrated in large cities. But for millions living in smaller towns and rural regions, access to timely eye screening remains limited.
Bengaluru-based healthtech startup Remidio is trying to change that by shrinking ophthalmic diagnostic equipment into portable kits and pairing them with artificial intelligence. The company's devices allow frontline healthcare workers to conduct eye screenings using smartphones-bringing preventive diagnostics closer to patients.
Founded by Anand Sivaraman, Remidio builds hardware and AI tools that enable early detection of eye diseases and, increasingly, systemic health risks through retinal analysis.
Today, the Bengaluru-based company has deployed over 4,000 devices globally, conducted close to 16 million screenings across 55+ countries, and employs around 200+ people across India, Singapore, and the United States.
From personal loss to building a medtech company
Sivaraman's journey into healthcare entrepreneurship began after a personal tragedy.
An engineering graduate from IIT Kharagpur, he later pursued a master's, PhD, and postdoctoral research at MIT, focusing on the intersection of technology and public health.
However, the death of his mother from a cardiac event prompted him to rethink his career trajectory.
"I lost my mother to a cardiac event, which pushed me to return to India and ask what technology could do for public health," Sivaraman says.
Before starting Remidio, he worked on diagnostic technologies in the HIV/AIDS testing space and helped build a company that was eventually acquired by American biomedical company Beckman Coulter.
The idea for Remidio emerged during a conversation with an ophthalmologist that revealed a structural challenge in eye care.
"I realised that nearly 70% of an ophthalmologist's time is spent identifying patients who need treatment," he says. "But most of their value comes from the treatment itself. That's when we started asking-can the identification step happen outside the clinic?"
Miniaturising eye diagnostics
Remidio's answer was to reimagine ophthalmic equipment in portable form.
The company has developed smartphone-based diagnostic devices with custom optics capable of capturing detailed retinal images. These images are then analysed using AI algorithms to detect conditions such as diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and macular degeneration.
"All the devices you typically see inside an ophthalmology clinic have essentially been miniaturised," Sivaraman explains. "They fit into a small bag and can be used by healthcare workers instead of specialists."
The devices are already used across about 250 public health centres in Kerala, enabling screenings closer to where patients live.
According to the company, the devices are designed to be affordable for large-scale screening programmes and cost roughly 15% less than conventional ophthalmic diagnostic equipment in India.
Remidio's product portfolio is broadly divided into two hardware categories. The Insta range focuses on portable, point-of-care diagnostic devices designed for screening outside traditional clinics, including handheld fundus cameras, portable slit lamps, autorefractors, and other compact ophthalmic tools used in primary health centres and community screening programmes.
The Pristine range, on the other hand, is built for specialist clinical settings and includes advanced imaging systems such as widefield fundus cameras, multimodal eye assessment platforms, optical biometers, and neonatal retinal imaging devices used in hospitals.
Supporting both hardware lines is the company's MediosHI AI platform, which provides diagnostic algorithms for conditions such as diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, and retinopathy of prematurity. The platform is complemented by Remidio Connect, a software layer that enables teleconsultation and patient data management.
AI that works without the cloud
Beyond hardware, Remidio has invested heavily in artificial intelligence that runs directly on devices.
Around 2018-2019, the company began developing edge AI models capable of analysing retinal images without relying on cloud GPUs.
"Instead of depending on cloud infrastructure, we asked whether AI could run directly on the device," Sivaraman says.
This approach allows screenings to happen even in locations with limited internet connectivity-an important advantage in rural and low-resource settings.
Remidio's AI tools have undergone clinical validation and have been supported by more than 90 peer-reviewed research publications, including studies in medical journals.
The company has also secured regulatory approvals across multiple regions, including EU MDR certification in Europe and approvals from India's Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation.
Using the eye to detect systemic diseases
While Remidio began with ophthalmology, its technology is now expanding into preventive health.
The retina offers a unique view of the body's microvascular system, making it a potential window into broader health conditions.
The company is developing AI models that analyse retinal biomarkers to identify risks associated with cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, and maternal health conditions such as preeclampsia.
"The retina is one of the few places where you can non-invasively observe microvascular circulation," Sivaraman says. "That opens the possibility of detecting broader health risks through the eye."
Scale and market presence
Remidio currently operates across India, Southeast Asia, the United States, and parts of Europe, serving public health programmes, hospitals, and insurance-driven healthcare systems.
The company expects to generate Rs 80-85 crore in revenue this year, with about 60% coming from India and the remaining 40% from international markets.
Its devices are used by institutions including Aravind Eye Care System, Narayana Nethralaya, L V Prasad Eye Institute, Dr. Mohan's Diabetes Specialities Centre.
In the United States, the company works with insurance-backed healthcare models where preventive screenings can be conducted at home.
The scale of Remidio's screening programmes has also revealed the extent of undiagnosed disease.
According to the company, nearly 99% of the cases identified through its screening initiatives had not been previously diagnosed.
That statistic underscores the importance of expanding access to preventive diagnostics.
"With only around 15,000 ophthalmologists serving a population of more than a billion people, relying solely on clinics will never reach everyone who needs screening," Sivaraman says.
Building deep-tech products from India
Developing precision medical hardware in India was not easy when Remidio began its journey around 2009-2010.
"At that time, there wasn't really an ecosystem for designing optical systems and electronics locally," Sivaraman says.
The team had to build expertise from scratch while navigating complex regulatory pathways.
However, he believes those constraints ultimately shaped the company's approach to innovation.
"India forces you to build solutions within constraints," he says. "Those constraints often lead to innovations that can scale globally."
Looking ahead
Remidio now plans to expand its public health screening model beyond Kerala to other Indian states, while strengthening its presence in international markets, particularly in Europe and the US.
As its AI capabilities expand, the company sees eye screening evolving into a broader gateway for preventive healthcare.
"For us, the purpose is simple," Sivaraman says. "If you can detect disease early, you can prevent blindness and improve long-term health outcomes."