Eargo

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Eargo, Inc.
Company type Private
Nasdaq: EAR (2020-24)
Founded2010;14 years ago (2010)
FoundersFlorent Michel (inventor)
Raphael Michel
Daniel Shen
Headquarters
San Jose, California
,
U.S.
Area served
United States
Key people
Christian Gormsen (president, CEO, and director) [1]
Products Hearing aids
RevenueIncrease2.svg $45 million (as of 2020) [2]
Number of employees
184 (2020)
Website www.eargo.com

Eargo, Inc. is an American hearing aid manufacturer based in San Jose, California. [3] [4] [5] [6] Christian Gormsen was CEO until 2023 when William Brownie replaced him.

Contents

History

Eargo was founded in 2010 by Florent Michel, his son Raphael Michel, and Daniel Shen. [7] Florent was an ear, nose, and throat surgeon serving as the designer and inventor. [8] Raphael served as the company's first CEO and Shen the company's chief science & clinical officer. [9] In 2013, they received seed funding from various a range of funds and angels, including Maveron. [8] In June 2015, they received $13.6 million in Series A funding from a group of 9 investors, including Maveron, Crosslink Capital, Dolby Family Ventures, and Birchmere Ventures. [3] [10]

Eargo announced $25 million in Series B funding led by New Enterprise Associates in December 2015, [11] and in October 2017 closed the first tranche of Series C funding intended to raise $45m. [12] There were other subsequent rounds of funding including a $52M series-D in 2019 and a $71M series-E in mid 2020. [13]

Eargo filed for IPO on September 25, 2020 [14] and officially listed on NASDAQ on October 16, 2020. [15] It was taken private by Patient Square Capital in January 2024, and its stock was delisted from NASDAQ. [16]

That same year, in April, Eargo agreed to a $34.37 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly submitting “claims for hearing aid devices for reimbursement to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) that contained unsupported hearing loss diagnosis codes.” [17]

Products

Eargo hearing aids are certified Class 2 medical devices. Their design is modeled after the standard fishing fly, [18] with a small speaker surrounded by medical-grade silicone fibers (for which the company uses the trademark Flexi Fibers); [18] [19] the fibers allow natural bass sounds to flow more freely into the ear canal, [10] [20] so that only treble ranges require amplification. [12]

The devices come in two sizes and are pre-programmed with four standard profiles. [3] To change the setting, wearers double-tap their ear, and an acoustic switch changes the sound profile. The settings for the devices in each ear can be changed independently. [18] Users can also send their personal audiograms to licensed hearing professionals at Eargo who will custom-calibrate the device for that individual's specific needs. [8] The hearing aids can be charged using a portable charging device that is sold with them, and are designed to hold a charge for up to 16 hours. The charging device itself is designed to last up to a week on a single charge. [8] [6] [10]


The company's founders have stated that these devices are designed with younger people in mind to overcome the stigma surrounding standard, bulky hearing aids. [21] [22] [23] [24] The product designer is Ammunition Design Group, which modeled the shape of the charger on a river rock and designed it for ease of use and high visibility of the hearing aids within; the company logo is based on a visualization of a digital recording of Florent Michel saying "Eargo". [21]

In June 2015, Eargo launched the first hearing devices available for order. [8] The Eargo Plus was introduced in 2017 [21] [25] and, in 2018, the Eargo Max was introduced. [26] The Eargo Neo launched in 2019, and in 2020 the Eargo Neo HiFi was launched. [27]

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References

  1. ↑ "Leadership | Eargo, Inc".
  2. ↑ "IPO Launch: Eargo Proposes Terms for $100 Million IPO". Archived from the original on October 17, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 Magee, Christine (June 25, 2015). "With $13 Million From Maveron, Eargo Is The Hearing Aid Of The Future". TechCrunch . Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Eargo Secures $13,000,000 Series A Financing Round". www.Xconomy.com. Xconomy. June 26, 2015. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  5. ↑ Lee, Tyler (June 26, 2015). "Eargo Could Be The Hearing Aid Of The Future". UberGizmo. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  6. 1 2 Sarrell, Matthew D. (August 4, 2015). "Eargo Hearing Aids". PC Magazine . Retrieved September 3, 2015.
  7. ↑ Report, H. T. (December 10, 2019). "Eargo's Model of Success, Direct-to-Consumer Hearing Aids | The Healthcare Technology Report" . Retrieved December 4, 2024.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Sherman, Michael (June 25, 2015). "Maveron-backed Eargo looks to reinvent the hearing aid with rechargeable devices modeled on a fishing fly". GeekWire . Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  9. ↑ "The Eargo 6 is a virtually invisible hearing aid with new Sound Adjust technology". March 11, 2022.
  10. 1 2 3 Perenson, Melissa (June 25, 2015). "Hands-on with Eargo, a New Approach to Hearing Aids". Wearables Insider. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Eargo Raises $25M in Series B Funding From New Enterprise Associates". Reuters. December 9, 2015. Archived from the original on December 11, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  12. 1 2 Al Idrus, Amirah (October 20, 2017). "Eargo pulls in first tranche of series C round worth up to $45M". FierceBiotech.
  13. ↑ "Eargo Receives Notification from Nasdaq Related to Delayed Annual Report on Form 10-K".
  14. ↑ Nasdaq. "Hearing aid manufacturer Eargo files for a $100 million IPO". Nasdaq.com.
  15. ↑ "Eargo, Inc. Announces Upsized Pricing of Initial Public Offering". Seekingalpha. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  16. ↑ "Eargo To Be Taken Private By Patient Square Capital". www.sec.gov. October 30, 2023. Retrieved December 18, 2024.
  17. ↑ "Hearing Aid Company Eargo Inc. Agrees to Pay $34.37 Million to Settle Common Law and False Claims Act Allegations for Unsupported Diagnosis Codes". justice.gov. April 29, 2022. Retrieved December 18, 2024.
  18. 1 2 3 Parvez, Husain (June 26, 2015). "Eargo Is The Heading Aid Of The Future: Backed By $13 Million From Maveron". TechVoize. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  19. ↑ Huang, Ruochen (July 30, 2015). "Investments For Hearables Surge". TechCrunch . Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  20. ↑ "Eargo is all about that bass ... and that mid-range, and the treble". Medical Plastic News. June 30, 2015. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  21. 1 2 3 Budds, Diana (October 13, 2017). "Ammunition Designs Slick Hearing Aids For People Who Don't Want Hearing Aids". FastCo.Design.
  22. ↑ Dunhaime-Ross, Arielle (August 24, 2015). "Can technology make a hearing-centric world more accessible?". The Verge . Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  23. ↑ "Eargo Hearing Device". Hearing Tracker. 2015. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  24. ↑ Kim, Jiwon (October 18, 2017). "Hearing Aids Reinvented To Make Them More Wearable For All". PSFK.
  25. ↑ "Eargo Plus Hearing Aid Review". www.hearreview.com. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  26. ↑ "A Hearing Aid Meant for the Masses: The 50 Best Inventions of 2018". Time . Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  27. ↑ Kim, Stefani (January 7, 2020). "Eargo Launches Neo HiFi - Hearing Review" . Retrieved October 19, 2020.
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