Custom Surgical secures €3.5M to digitise eye clinics
German medtech startup Custom Surgical has raised €3.5 million in fresh funding to convert traditional ophthalmic equipment into AI-ready diagnostic platforms. The company’s core technology turns analog slit lamps—a staple in eye examinations—into connected data hubs capable of capturing, structuring and streaming high-quality clinical images.
From analog optics to intelligent diagnostics
Slit lamps are used by ophthalmologists worldwide to examine the front part of the eye, but in many clinics they remain purely optical, with no digital capture or analytics. Custom Surgical has developed hardware add-ons and software that clip onto existing devices, enabling secure image and video capture without forcing hospitals to replace costly infrastructure.
Once digitised, the visual data can be fed into AI algorithms for tasks such as early detection of glaucoma, cataracts and corneal disease. By transforming legacy equipment into connected systems, the startup aims to standardise eye exam data and create the foundation for scalable clinical decision support.
Funding to accelerate AI data pipeline in ophthalmology
The €3.5 million round will be used to expand engineering, strengthen regulatory and data security capabilities, and deepen integrations with electronic health records and third-party AI diagnostic tools. The company is also targeting partnerships with hospitals, eye-care chains and device manufacturers to embed its technology as a default upgrade path for existing slit lamps.
For emerging markets, where analog equipment dominates and budgets are tight, the retrofit model could be particularly transformative. Rather than investing in entirely new digital imaging systems, clinics can modernise current devices and immediately start building high-quality datasets for future AI-driven ophthalmology.
Positioning in the global healthtech landscape
As regulators push for better traceability and quality in medical imaging, solutions that unlock structured data from legacy hardware are gaining traction. Custom Surgical is positioning itself as an infrastructure player: not competing with ophthalmic AI software vendors, but enabling them by providing consistent, labelled input data from the exam room.
The new funding underscores investor confidence that digitising frontline diagnostic tools is a critical step toward more precise, accessible and data-driven eye care worldwide.