Eargo

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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