In this episode, recorded live at Austin Tech Week 2025, Nick Spiller sits down with David Zakariaie, founder and CEO of Senseye, the Austin-based deep-tech company turning eye-tracking and computer vision into the world’s first objective diagnostic for mental health. Zakariaie explains how Senseye’s 10-minute smartphone-based test measures ocular micro-movements to detect PTSD, anxiety, and depression, conditions currently “diagnosed” using little more than questionnaires and gut instinct.

David walks through the scientific foundation: decades of fMRI research showing clear neurological signatures across mental health disorders, paired with Senseye’s breakthrough, running high-precision eye-tracking with nothing more than a phone camera. The result is a scalable, FDA-bound diagnostic platform aimed at modernizing the world’s most outdated healthcare category.

Nick and David dive into Senseye’s origins as a high-school science project that caught the attention of the Office of Naval Research, the Air Force, and ultimately Capital Factory. Today, the company has completed large-scale Phase I and II clinical trials and is preparing for Phase III on the road to full FDA approval.

For founders and investors, the conversation offers a masterclass in building a venture where science, regulation, and commercialization collide. David’s journey reveals how deep-tech startups blend government contracts, clinical milestones, and strategic capital to bring ambitious, impactful technology into the real world.

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