 | This article contains content that is written like an advertisement .(December 2021) |
| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Nasdaq: EAR | |
| Founded | 2010 |
| Founders | Florent Michel (inventor) Raphael Michel Daniel Shen |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
Area served | United States |
Key people | Christian Gormsen (president, CEO, and director) [1] |
| Products | Hearing aids |
| Revenue |  $45 million (as of 2020) [2] |
Number of employees | 184 (2020) |
| Website | www |
Eargo is an American hearing aid manufacturer based in San Jose, California. [3] [4] [5] [6]
Eargo was founded in 2010 by Florent Michel, [7] his son Raphael Michel, and Daniel Shen. [8] Florent was an ear, nose, and throat surgeon serving as the designer and inventor [9] whilst Raphael served as the company's first CEO and Shen the company's chief science & clinical officer. [10] In 2013, they received seed funding from a range of funds and angels as well including Maveron. [9] 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] [11]
Eargo announced $25 million in Series B funding led by New Enterprise Associates in December 2015, [12] and in October 2017 closed the first tranche of Series C funding intended to raise $45m. [13] There were other subsequent rounds of funding including a $52M series-D in 2019 and a $71M series-E in mid 2020. [14]
Eargo filed for IPO on September 25, 2020 [15] and officially listed on NASDAQ on October 16, 2020. [16]
in June 2015, Eargo launched the first hearing devices available for order. [9] The Eargo Plus was introduced in 2017 [17] [18] and, in 2018, the Eargo Max was introduced. [19] The Eargo Neo launched in 2019, and in 2020 the Eargo Neo HiFi was launched. [20]
Eargo hearing aids are certified Class 2 medical devices. Their design is modeled after the standard fishing fly, [7] with a small speaker surrounded by medical-grade silicone fibers (for which the company uses the trademark Flexi Fibers); [7] [21] the fibers allow natural bass sounds to flow more freely into the ear canal, [11] [22] so that only treble ranges require amplification. [13]
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. [7] 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. [9] 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. [9] [6] [11]
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. [8] [17] [23] [24] [25] 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". [17]
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