Clerio Vision

Clerio Vision is a development-stage medical-device company, not an investment firm. Capital allocation is managed by CEO Alex Zapesochny and CFO Alissa Seidman, with board oversight from directors including Safar Partners' Arunas Chesonis. The firm closed a financing round led by Safar Partners, with participation from Hegemon Capital, to fund clinical development of its LIRIC platform.

LIRIC technology originated at the University of Rochester's Center for Visual Sciences, where foundational laser-physics research contributed to a 2018 Nobel Prize. Clerio formed as a commercial spinout in 2003 and holds over 90 patents across more than 30 families. The National Science Foundation supported early development through STTR Phase I and Phase II grants.

The LIRIC platform addresses four segments: advanced multifocal contact lenses for presbyopia, myopia-control therapeutic lenses, non-invasive post-cataract IOL adjustment, and incisionless corneal refractive correction. The company publicly estimates these represent four multi-billion-dollar markets.

Standard contact lenses are produced by molding or lathing, which cannot create the complex diffractive optical profiles needed to correct longitudinal chromatic aberration or manipulate peripheral blur orientation. LIRIC uses a femtosecond laser to write refractive-index changes directly inside the lens material without removing any substance, enabling optical designs that were previously impossible.

The firm has completed first-in-human LIRIC trials and published research identifying a distinct peripheral blur orientation in myopic versus emmetropic eyes. At ARVO 2026, Clerio presented the first soft contact lens demonstrated to correct and reverse ocular longitudinal chromatic aberration, an optical cue linked to eye growth. Additional clinical trials for pediatric myopia are in planning.

Clerio is venture-backed. Safar Partners led a recent financing round, with existing investor Hegemon Capital participating. The firm reports $80 million in cumulative R&D investment to date, sourced from these backers and early NSF grants.

The company holds more than 90 patents across over 30 families. Recent grants include U.S. Patent No. 12,449,675 for an enhanced LIRIC design enabling trifocal and EDOF lenses in hydrophobic materials, and U.S. Patent No. 12,443,053 covering myopia-control lens designs that manipulate peripheral blur orientation.