Lionel Messi – OrCam Website
OrCam Technologies Ltd, an Israeli medtech startup that offers new technology for the blind, is now the latest Israel Startup Nation firm forced to make cutbacks due to the worldwide financial crisis. OrCam is said to be laying off 62 employees, or 16% of its total workforce.
OrCam says its mission is to improve the lives of individuals who are blind, visually impaired, and have reading difficulties. And just a few years ago the company expected as much as a $3 billion valuation as it planned on its initial public offering (IPO). But the IPO never materialized and now the company is suffering in the same way as everyone else from the drying up of capital for new investments.
This is all caused by the ongoing war in Ukraine, which has led to high oil prices and international sanctions on Russia and its oligarchs to punish the country for the invasion and occupation of Ukraine. This has caused uncertainty among investors and a situation where people are holding onto their money right now and not investing it.
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And this has had a ripple effect on all firms, startups and established ones alike. For example, in September Taboola, the publicly traded Israeli web content recommendation company was forced to make layoffs due to the global financial crisis. Also in September Snap Inc., the company behind social media giant Snapchat, was forced to let go about 20% of its employees.
Founded in 2010 by founders of Mobileye Prof. Amnon Shashua and Mr. Ziv Aviram, OrCam produces new technology for the blind and other people with visual deficiencies. Its MyEye is wearable technology for people who are blind or visually impaired. It is a voice-activated device that provides increased independence by communicating visual information, audibly. With OrCam MyEye, you can read text, recognize faces, and identify products.
Its OrCam Read is a handheld AI Reader made for people with the full spectrum of reading difficulties, including dyslexia. It lets the user read full pages of text at the push of a button.
