Israeli company OrcamABC, a company that develops devices to help people with visual and hearing impairments, is to stop developing its flagship visual aid product. The company was founded by Mobily International Company MBLY (NASDAQ: MBLY) founders Amnon Shashua and Ziv Aviram will focus on developing devices for the hearing impaired. Dozens of employees will be laid off as part of the new focus, according to market sources. The company has 80 employees in Israel, according to IVC.
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Just last month, Orcam laid off dozens of employees, its second round of layoffs in the past year, and in February, there were reports that the company was planning an organizational shakeup by spinning off its hearing-impairment business into a separate company, which would make Orcam profitable and ready for an IPO. At the same time as the reports of the spinoffs surfaced, the company laid off 50 employees. Also in 2022, the company has shed 16% of its workforce.
OrCam’s visual aids division has been the core business since the company was founded in 2010. The company has focused on developing glasses and various visual aids for people with low vision.
The device developed by OrCam, among other things, helps read text and signs. However, the artificial intelligence giant OpenAI is working on developing similar technologies that can be used from mobile phones without the need to buy special visual aids.
OrCam has raised $181 million.
To date, OrCam has raised $181 million from investors including Israeli institutional investors such as Harel, Clal Insurance, Leumi Partners, and Meitav Dash as well as tech investment funds such as Intel Capital, Aviv Ventures, and Big Tech 50.
In the future, OrCam will focus on its hearing division called Hear. This division is developing, among other things, the Hear app, which allows hearing-impaired people to focus using a digital listening device on an individual speaker when attending social events with a lot of background noise.
“Technological advances in image processing using language models make the need for further development of low vision products unnecessary,” Orcam said. “Therefore, the focus has shifted to the hearing division, which is entering the marketing and sales phase.”
This article was published in Globes, Israeli Business News – en.globes.co.il – on July 28, 2024.
© Copyright Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.
