WISER Optomed Launches AI-Powered Fundus Screening Partnership with Oriental Vision in Guangzhou

First-of-its-kind initiative brings clinical-grade eye health diagnostics to China's optical retail sector, with integrated referral pathways to top-tier hospitals

GUANGZHOU, China — June 2026 — WISER ASIA, a China-based venture development and market-entry firm focused on European medtech, today announced that its portfolio company WISER Optomed Medical has launched an AI-powered fundus screening program in partnership with Oriental Vision, one of China's most established optical retail chains. The initiative marks the first time clinical-grade AI fundus screening has been systematically integrated into China's optical retail environment, creating a new model for preventive eye health management at scale.

Closing the Preventive Eye Health Gap in China

China faces a significant and growing burden of preventable vision loss. With more than 233 million diabetic patients, approximately one-third are at risk of developing diabetic retinopathy — the leading cause of irreversible blindness among working-age adults. Early detection has been shown to reduce the risk of blindness by more than 90 percent. Yet in practice, routine fundus screening remains largely inaccessible to the general population: top-tier hospital ophthalmology departments are overwhelmed with demand, community clinics lack equipment and eye-doctors, and most patients only seek care after symptoms have already appeared.

Youth myopia compounds the challenge. China's juvenile myopia rate now exceeds 51 percent, and the risks associated with high myopia — including retinal detachment and macular degeneration — are rarely caught through standard school vision checks.

The partnership is designed to address this access gap directly, by turning optical retail stores — where millions of Chinese consumers already visit regularly for vision care — into the first point of contact for preventive eye health screening.

A Fully Integrated Screening-to-Care Pathway

The program deploys Optomed's Aurora® AI Fundus Camera across Oriental Vision retail shops. The Aurora® is the world's only handheld fundus camera to hold simultaneous regulatory clearance from the U.S. FDA, European CE, and China NMPA. With a 50° ultra-wide field of view, 18-megapixel imaging capability, and a no-dilation design, the device enables fast, non-invasive fundus imaging without the barriers typically associated with clinical settings.

Images captured in-store are analyzed by WISER Optomed's cloud-based AI diagnostic platform, which screens for diabetic retinopathy, hypertensive retinopathy, glaucoma, macular degeneration, and systemic cardiovascular risk indicators. Results are delivered in a structured report that is clinically meaningful yet accessible to patients.

Critically, the program does not stop at screening. WISER Optomed has established green-channel referral agreements with Guangzhou's top-tier hospitals, ensuring that individuals identified as high-risk can access specialist consultation and confirmatory diagnosis without facing typical registration queues or wait times. Longitudinal health records are maintained via a Huawei Cloud-based eye health management platform, enabling ongoing monitoring rather than one-time snapshots.

The full care pathway — optical store screening → AI risk stratification → specialist hospital referral → long-term eye health management — represents a new model for integrating preventive diagnostics into everyday consumer settings in China.

Two Partners, Complementary Strengths

Oriental Vision holds a singular place in China's optical retail history. Founded by Mr Song Ning, who has spent more than 40 years in the optometry sector, Oriental Vision was China's first optical retail chain — introducing the concept of standardized, professional vision care to consumers at a time when the industry was still largely fragmented. Song Ning's long-held belief that "optical stores should be the community's first line of defense for eye health" has guided the company's development over three decades, and aligns directly with the clinical ambitions of the current partnership.

WISER Optomed Medical was co-founded by WISER ASIA's investment vehicle and Optomed, a Finnish publicly listed company with over 20 years of specialized R&D in handheld fundus imaging, whose devices are currently deployed in more than 6,000 ophthalmology institutions worldwide. Based in the Greater Bay Area, WISER Optomed combines Optomed's internationally validated hardware and local AI algorithms with deep local clinical partnerships, to deliver solutions that are both globally rigorous and locally validated.

"This partnership reflects what we believe the next phase of preventive healthcare in China looks like," said Kevin Chen, Director of WISER Optomed. "It's not about putting technology in hospitals. It's about meeting people where they already are, and building the clinical pathways that make early detection actionable — not just informational."

Significance for the Medtech Ecosystem

The WISER Optomed-Oriental Vision collaboration has implications that extend beyond the immediate clinical program. As a proof-of-concept for the integration of AI diagnostics into non-clinical retail settings, it offers a replicable template for other disease areas where early detection is critical but access to specialist care remains limited.

For WISER ASIA, the launch represents the maturation of a venture development approach that goes beyond traditional distribution: co-designing the clinical pathway, building the referral ecosystem, and validating commercial models that can sustain and scale preventive care programs within China's existing healthcare structure.

Guangzhou is the first, more to come in China.