Wisconsin Startup Otologic Technologies Raises $275,000 in Funding Round

Otologic Technologies, Inc., a Wisconsin startup developing an artificial intelligence system to help healthcare workers accurately diagnose ear disease, announced the successful close of their organizing friends and family funding round. The company raised $275,000 in the privately held round.

“Studies report ear disease is commonly over-diagnosed, and we’re spending $4 billion a year in the U.S. treating ear infections. We need to put better tools in the hands of healthcare teams to examine and diagnose ear disease,” said Dan Wenger, Otologic Technologies’ chief strategy officer. “These tools are even more important as telemedicine takes a larger role, as we have seen during the Covid-19 crisis.”

The company’s core technology began as an academic invention when Aaron Moberly, MD, an ear surgeon and Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University, collaborated with Metin Gurcan, Ph.D., a colleague at the university and expert in artificial intelligence and image analysis. Together they created a system that captures and analyzes short video clips of a patient’s ear exam, intending to provide healthcare staff diagnostic guidance and improve accuracy of diagnosis in primary care.

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Upon the funding round close, the company also announced its management team and board of directors. Darrin S. McCall was named president, chief executive officer, and chief operating officer. Dan Wenger was named vice president, chief strategy officer and treasurer. Dr. Moberly and Dr. Gurcan were appointed to the board of directors and consult with the company. Dr. Moberly will also serve as chief medical officer. John Guequierre will continue to serve as secretary of the board of directors.

McCall and Wenger each have over 20 years of healthcare tech experience at companies including GE Healthcare, Alliance Healthcare Services, Pfizer, and technology startups. Guequierre is a serial entrepreneur and an active business mentor in the Merlin Mentors program in Madison, Wisconsin.