Growth-stage ophthalmology and optometry device developer Sight Sciences announced today that it closed a Series E preferred stock financing round totaling over $30 million.
The Menlo Park, Calif.–based company — which develops treatments for glaucoma and dry eye disease — said in a news release that the proceeds from the funding are earmarked for clinical and operational development, along with supporting commercial expansion for its Omni and TearCare products.
“This investment further validates the substantial progress we have made in our mission to transform the treatment of the world’s most prevalent eye diseases,” Sight Sciences founder & CEO Paul Badawi said in the news release. “Through further clinical trials and continued scale-up of our commercial infrastructure, we are looking forward to accelerating the market development of both standalone [minimally invasive glaucoma surgery] with Omni and procedure-based dry eye therapy with TearCare.”
Omni is a manually operated surgical system designed to deliver small amounts of viscoelastic fluid, such as Healon or HealonGV from Abbott (NYSE:ABT), Amvisc from Bausch & Lomb or Provisc from Alcon (NYSE:ALC), during ophthalmic surgery. It also has an indication for cutting trabecular meshwork tissue during trabeculotomy procedures.
TearCare is designed to apply localized heat during the recommended application of a warm compress to the eyelids during treatment of meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD), dry eye or blepharitis.
D1 Capital Partners led the Series E financing round, and Badawi noted that Sight Sciences is excited to partner with D1 “over the long term.”
“Sight Sciences has introduced two technologies that have fundamentally improved how physicians can treat two of the most prevalent eye diseases,” D1 Capital Partners analyst James Rogers said. “In minimally invasive glaucoma surgery the safety, efficacy and versatility of the OMNI device is unmatched.”
“Additionally, we feel the early success with the commercialization of TearCare suggests this innovative and effective solution has addressed the shortfalls of previous dry eye treatments and modalities for this common ailment.”
