Essex Woodlands Health Ventures invested the 2007-startup QSpex 12 million dollars at the end of 2009. This is an amazing new technology enabling the optical stores to finish casting the lenses for the eyeglasses in 30 minutes. According to the in introduction on its website, the in-house lenses making machine is able to make Anti-glare, photochromic, polarized lenses in one integrated process. The surface quality of the lenses can be comparable with the lab-ground lenses, with accurate and precise prescription acuity. And it requires no special skills for the operators. It is heard recently QSpex finialized another round of capital financing from GE. All these venture capitals help to commercialize the patented technology and bring the novelty technology lenses to final users. QSpex plans to test the market in the southeast before the end of 2010, and then rollout through the country in the coming 3 years.
QSpex will market its lenses through the independent doctor’s offices, and then spread though national chain stores. This new tech will greatly the increase the profitability and efficiency of the independent stores.
The major members of the QSpex team are with perfect background in the industry of eye-care products. Stephen M. Martin, the CEO of QSpex Technologies. Is a veteran contact lens manufacturing executive, and he founded Ciba Vision in 1980 and Ciba Vision Ophthalmics in 1990. Dr. Kai Su, originally from Taiwan China, is the founder, Chairman and CSO of QSpex.
Dr. Kai Su’s (PHD) background is particularly worth mentioning. He Founded QSpex Technologies Inc., and serves as its Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Su has been in the vision care industry for over three decades and is an expert in the field of polymer chemistry. Before QSpex, he was the President & CEO of Technology Resources International (TRI). Before this, Dr. Su spent 21 years leading research and development groups at Ciba Vision, Alcon Laboratories and Bausch & Lomb. During all these years, Dr. Su has invented over 100 eye care patented products and published many scientific papers in the area. Dr. Su’s the technologies have been used in a number of successful vision care products, such as Alcon’s Opti-Clean contact lens cleaning solutions and Softcolors line of colored contacts lenses within the CIBA brand. In 1996, he was awarded the Contact Lens Manufacturers Association Trailblazer Award for his excellent achievement in product development to the enhancement of the industry. Dr. Su gained his Ph.D. in polymer chemistry from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in New York, and owned a BS in chemistry from Taiwan’s Tamkang University before he came to United States to further his study.
This new technology, if proves to be workable soon, will surely transform and reshape the business model of the optical industry, and this will greatly impact the current participators, especially in the eyeglasses lens manufacturing industry.
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