Eargo

Eargo was founded in 2010 by Florent Michel,[6] his son Raphael Michel, and Daniel Shen.[2][7] Florent—an ear, nose, and throat surgeon—serves as the designer and inventor[8] while Raphael serves as the company's CEO and Shen as the company's Chief Science & Clinical Officer.[2] Soon after founding the company, they were joined by CTO Bret Hirscher and SVP Engineering Mike Perry, who had worked with Raphael Michel nearly a decade earlier, and Chief Business Officer Matthew Welch. They received seed funding in 2013 from a range of seed funds and angels as well as 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.[1][9][10]

Eargo announced $25m in Series B funding led by New Enterprise Associatesin December 2015,[11] and in October 2017 closed the first tranche of Series C funding intended to raise $45m.[12]

The first hearing devices were made available for order in June 2015.[8] The Eargo Plus was introduced in 2017[13][14] and in 2018, the Eargo Max was introduced.[15]

Eargo hearing aids are certified Class 1 medical devices. Their design is modeled after the standard fishing fly,[6] with a small speaker surrounded by medical-grade silicone fibers (for which the company uses the trademark Flexi Fibers). Unlike many other in-ear hearing aids, the Eargo apparatus is an open-canal device that does not occlude the ear canal;[6][16] the fibers allow natural bass sounds to flow more freely into the ear canal,[10][17] so that only treble ranges require amplification.[12]

The devices come in two sizes and are pre-programmed with four standard profiles.[1] 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.[6] 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][5][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.[7][13][18][19][20] 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".[13]

• Official Website