MURRAY HILL, NEW JERSEY & SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA, May 15, 2015 – Nokia and Celesta Capital today announced that Astranu, a company transforming hearing care through next-generation imaging technology, has officially spun out from Nokia as part of a collaboration to accelerate the commercialization of innovative technologies. This marks the inaugural venture launched through the collaboration between Nokia and Celesta Capital.

Astranu leverages proprietary integrated Optical Coherence Tomography (iOCT) technology developed by Nokia Bell Labs and aims to dramatically transform ear diagnostic care through advanced, non-invasive, high-resolution 3D imaging. The iOCT technology brings high performance imaging into the world’s most cost-effective OCT system, providing instant, high-accuracy imaging of middle-ear conditions and hearing response. This has the potential to address critical healthcare gaps by helping to reduce incidences of misdiagnosis, unnecessary referrals, and significantly reducing the reliance on costly and invasive exploratory surgery and imaging techniques such as CT and MRI scans.

Through the spin out, experienced healthcare technology executive Trevor Hawkins, PhD joins Astranu as CEO, bringing decades of leadership in successfully scaling healthcare and diagnostic startups. iOCT co-inventors Michael Eggleston, PhD, and Bibek Samanta, PhD, who incubated and developed the technology to commercial readiness at Nokia Bell Labs, will help support Astranu in this next phase.

Nokia Bell Labs, Nokia’s award-winning industrial research arm, will continue to support Astranu with vital laboratory resources and R&D expertise, reaffirming their commitment to fostering innovation with real world-impact.

Mike Chen, Vice President of Ventures, Nokia, said: "Astranu reflects Nokia Bell Labs’ approach and commitment to nurturing groundbreaking innovations from early-stage research through commercialization. Astranu’s revolutionary imaging technology holds transformative promise for healthcare, and we’re proud to support their journey."

Celesta Capital’s involvement brings strategic direction, commercialization support, and substantial industry networks vital for rapid market adoption of Astranu’s technology.

Sriram Viswanathan, Founding Managing Partner at Celesta Capital, said: "We are excited to partner with Nokia in spinning out Astranu, which represents the ideal convergence of innovative technology and high impact healthcare applications. Celesta’s experience in scaling deep technology ventures uniquely positions us to help Astranu navigate the complex dynamics of establishing and scaling a successful technology business."

Achin Bhowmik, PhD, Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Engineering for hearing technology company Starkey, will join the Company’s Board of Directors. “Astranu’s imaging technology offers the potential to deliver high-resolution insights at the point of care,” said Dr. Bhowmik. “I look forward to supporting the company’s journey and helping explore ways this technology can advance patient outcomes.”

About Celesta Capital

Celesta Capital is a global deep technology venture capital firm. Led by technology industry veterans with decades of investment and operational experience, Celesta Capital has a passion and proven track record for building and scaling global businesses. Founded in 2013, Celesta has a portfolio of more than 100 early-stage technology investments. Learn more at http://celesta.vc.

About Nokia

At Nokia, we create technology that helps the world act together.

As a B2B technology innovation leader, we are pioneering networks that sense, think and act by leveraging our work across mobile, fixed and cloud networks. In addition, we create value with intellectual property and long-term research, led by the award-winning Nokia Bell Labs, which is celebrating 100 years of innovation.

With truly open architectures that seamlessly integrate into any ecosystem, our high-performance networks create new opportunities for monetization and scale. Service providers, enterprises and partners worldwide trust Nokia to deliver secure, reliable and sustainable networks today – and work with us to create the digital services and applications of the future.

Media Contacts

Celesta Capital

Trevor DeWitt
Head of Marketing
Email: trevor@celesta.vc

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Nokia Press Office

Email: Press.Services@nokia.com