The technology that peer into your retina during an eye exam is getting a second life on assembly lines. CareGlance, a Milan-based startup, recently closed a €3.5 million seed round (roughly $4.03 million) to scale up its unusual proposition: adapting optical coherence tomography—a mainstay of medical diagnostics—for the grittier demands of industrial quality control.
The round, led by CDP Venture Capital's Rilancio Fund, drew participation from Eureka Venture (operating through both its Technology Transfer fund and a regional vehicle focused on Puglia), LIFTT, and a clutch of business angels. For LIFTT, this marks the fourth injection of capital into CareGlance since an initial €250,000 bet in late 2022. By November 2023, the firm had built its stake to 19.4%, with another follow-on in May 2024.
It's a curious trajectory for a technology better known for scanning eyeballs than inspecting welds.
Precision Meets the Production Line
Optical coherence tomography—OCT, in industry shorthand—works by bouncing light off tissue or materials to create cross-sectional images. In ophthalmology, it's the gold standard for diagnosing retinal disorders. CareGlance's gamble is that the same principle can catch defects in real time as lasers weld metal or 3D printers lay down successive layers of material.
The company's system splits into two parts: a "Satellite Box" optical head that mounts directly onto machinery, and a separate "Core Box" handling signal processing. Both rely on proprietary algorithms engineered to cut through the vibration and electromagnetic noise typical of factory environments—conditions a hospital imaging suite would never tolerate.
CareGlance's swept-source OCT setup operates around 800 nanometers, delivering multi-MHz A-scan rates, according to technical case studies from component suppliers. The startup uses laser gain chips from TOPTICA EAGLEYARD in an external-cavity configuration, a partnership that has been active since 2024. Whether that collaboration extends beyond component supply into deeper R&D remains unclear.
Founded in 2019, the company initially targeted laser welding and additive manufacturing. But its pitch has broadened: semiconductors, multilayer coatings, battery production, composite materials. All share a common thread—tight tolerances and expensive mistakes if defects slip through.
A Dual-City Strategy
The fresh capital will fund what most seed rounds do: hire engineers, refine the product, chase customers. But there's a geographic wrinkle. While CareGlance keeps its formal headquarters in Milan at PoliHub—maintaining what the company describes as a "close collaborative relationship" with Politecnico di Milano—the operational center of gravity is shifting south to Bari, in the Puglia region. Software development and core engineering are consolidating there, a move that likely influenced Eureka Venture's Puglia-dedicated fund to participate.
The Politecnico connection isn't incidental. CEO and founder Maria Chiara Ubaldi brings an academic pedigree: more than 30 publications and three international patents. Under her watch, CareGlance has filed three patent families. European grants are secured; U.S. filings remain under examination.
The company has made the rounds at industry gatherings—SPIE Photonics West in both 2025 and 2026, Laser World of Photonics in 2025. Trade show booths are expensive. Their presence suggests CareGlance believes its potential customers—aerospace manufacturers, precision machining shops, battery makers—are paying attention.
The Harder Part
Raising a seed round is one thing. Convincing factories to retrofit production lines with novel optics is another. Industrial procurement cycles are notoriously slow, and convincing plant managers to trust an unproven technology for inline quality control requires more than elegant algorithms. It requires demonstrated ROI, often over years.
CareGlance's bet is that industries under pressure to reduce waste and improve yields—especially in high-value sectors like aerospace and semiconductors—will pay a premium for real-time defect detection. Perhaps they will. The technology is sound. The question, as always, is execution.
