In a significant development that bridges cutting-edge technology with transformative autism care, Floreo, a behavioral health-focused virtual reality company, has announced the acquisition of Autism Eyes, a diagnostic tool developed by Cleveland Clinic Innovations. Alongside this acquisition, Cleveland Clinic has made a strategic investment in Floreo, becoming the company’s second-largest outside investor and sending a representative to serve as an advisor on Floreo’s board. This dual announcement marks a pivotal moment not only for Floreo’s growth but also for the broader field of autism diagnostics and therapeutic intervention, as the company prepares to integrate diagnostics into its existing suite of immersive autism VR therapy tools.
Floreo: Pioneering Virtual Reality in Behavioral Health
Since its founding in 2016, Floreo has focused on leveraging virtual reality to help neurodiverse individuals develop social, behavioral, and life skills. Its platform delivers immersive lessons designed to simulate real-world interactions and environments, all of which can be tailored to meet individual client needs. These autism VR therapy sessions are typically administered by therapists and can also be utilized in educational settings or at home with family support.
Floreo’s existing platform has been used in clinical therapy, special education, and home-based learning, offering an interactive and engaging solution to some of the most challenging aspects of autism VR therapy, such as generalization of skills and maintaining engagement. The addition of Autism Eyes represents an expansion of Floreo’s capabilities—allowing the company to address both therapy and diagnosis in one unified technology ecosystem.
Introducing Autism Eyes: Next-Generation Autism Diagnostics
Developed by Cleveland Clinic Innovations, Autism Eyes is a novel diagnostic platform that uses eye-tracking technology to identify early signs of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The product works by presenting a seven-minute video that displays a curated series of visual stimuli to the individual being assessed. While the video plays, an external eye tracker records the individual’s gaze patterns, collecting data that is then analyzed by an algorithm to determine an Autism Risk Index (ARI) and an Autism Severity Index (ASI).
This non-invasive method provides a fast, objective measure of risk and severity, enabling early detection and accurate screening for autism. The goal of Autism Eyes is to accelerate the diagnostic process, which is often a long, costly, and subjective experience for families. Traditional autism assessments can involve multiple appointments with developmental specialists and subjective behavioral observations, often resulting in delayed diagnoses—something that autism VR therapy aims to streamline.
A Unified Platform for Diagnosis and Therapy
“The Autism Eyes product enables the use of eye-tracking data to be applied to autism diagnostics and assessment,” said Vijay Ravindran, Floreo’s founder and CEO, in a statement to Behavioral Health Business. “Integrating Autism Eyes will enable Floreo to expand beyond social and life skills therapy to also diagnose new cases of autism and to assess its severity.”
Ravindran emphasized that eye-tracking technology is rapidly becoming a standard feature in next-generation VR devices, such as Apple’s Vision Pro and Meta Quest Pro. As these technologies become more mainstream, Floreo envisions a future where eye tracking is seamlessly embedded within VR headsets, enabling a smoother, more integrated autism VR therapy experience.
This synergy will allow Floreo to build a comprehensive pipeline of autism care—starting from early diagnosis, progressing through targeted autism VR therapy, and allowing continuous assessment to track progress and adjust interventions.
Cleveland Clinic: Driving Innovation in Autism Care
Cleveland Clinic’s investment in Floreo is not merely financial—it reflects a broader mission to accelerate innovations in behavioral health and neurodevelopmental care.
“The rising incidence of autism demands cutting-edge technology solutions to help individuals and their families,” said Geoff Vince, Executive Director of Cleveland Clinic Innovations. “Floreo’s VR platform combined with the eye-tracking diagnostic capabilities of Autism Eyes will help build an integrated pathway tailored to each individual’s needs.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1 in 36 children in the United States is diagnosed with autism, up from previous estimates of 1 in 44. As prevalence increases, so too does the demand for faster, more accessible, and more effective diagnosis and treatment options—making autism VR therapy a critical solution.
On the Road to FDA Approval
As Floreo integrates Autism Eyes into its service offerings, the company is also continuing its pursuit of FDA approval for its autism VR therapy platform, which would solidify its standing as a clinically validated tool in the behavioral health landscape.
To date, Floreo has received an FDA Breakthrough Device Designation, which helps expedite the development and review of medical devices that offer significant advantages over existing options. Additionally, Floreo has been accepted into the FDA’s Total Product Life Cycle (TPLC) Advisory Program, a relatively new initiative that provides continuous, structured engagement between the FDA and medical device developers.
“Funding from our Cleveland Clinic partnership will be used to support Floreo’s current roadmap, which includes seeking FDA approval for Floreo’s autism VR therapy platform later this year as well as the work to integrate Autism Eyes into Floreo,” Ravindran noted.
A Future of Personalized, Accessible Autism Care
The combination of Floreo’s immersive therapy and Autism Eyes’ objective diagnostics could transform the way autism is diagnosed and treated. Rather than a fragmented process that separates evaluation and therapy into different systems, Floreo aims to create a seamless, end-to-end solution that can adapt to each individual’s unique strengths and challenges.
This move also signals a broader shift in behavioral health care toward technology-driven, personalized interventions that leverage real-time data to inform and improve outcomes.
As autism prevalence continues to rise, and as families and providers seek more efficient ways to manage diagnosis and treatment, innovations like those from Floreo and Autism Eyes—including autism VR therapy—offer hope and a path forward.
By uniting diagnostics, therapy, and progress tracking into one immersive, accessible platform, Floreo is poised to become a next-generation leader in neurodiverse care.
