Eargo was founded in 2010 by Florent Michel, his son Raphael Michel, and Daniel Shen. Florent was an
ear, nose, and throat surgeon serving as the designer and inventor. Raphael served as the company's first
CEO and Shen the company's chief science & clinical officer. In 2013, the company received
seed funding from various a range of funds and angels, including
Maveron. Eargo announced $25 million in
Series B funding led by
New Enterprise Associates in December 2015, and in October 2017 closed the first
tranche of Series C funding intended to raise $45m. There were other subsequent rounds of funding including a $52M series-D in 2019 and a $71M series-E in mid 2020. Christian Gormsen was named CEO in the summer of 2016 and served until June 2023, when William Brownie replaced him. Eargo filed for an IPO on September 25, 2020, and was officially listed on NASDAQ on October 16, 2020. In 2022, Patient Square Capital, a healthcare investment firm, became the majority owner of Eargo. The company was taken private by Patient Square Capital in January 2024, and its stock was delisted from NASDAQ. That same year, in April, Eargo agreed to a $34.37 million settlement with the
U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly submitting, “claims for hearing aid devices for reimbursement to the
Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) that contained unsupported hearing loss diagnosis codes.” Eargo denied the allegations. Nic Klopper, CEO of Hearx, will serve as CEO of the merged company and William Brownie will serve as COO. ==Products==