GlassesOn - Vision to The People

Eyesight is the gateway to education, employment, and building better life. Eradicate poor vision and help the world see clearly.

Globally, trained optometrists are hard to find. In some countries, such as China, there are only a few optometrists per a million people. Impaired vision is the most common disability in the world, and one-third of the global population have no access to vision care due to cost and/or lack of services. In the developed world, online purchase of prescription glasses should have increase accessibility, but is hindered by the need to physically visit the optometrist to obtain a prescription, which is costly and time consuming. This broken funnel limits the online eyewear market from reaching its full potential. 

We bring all fundamental optometric tools right to the smartphone, including subjective refraction, lens-meter and pd-meter.  GlassesOn - A simple, user friendly app enables a complete and accurate measurement of the refractive error of the eye, as well as duplicating an existing prescription from user's glasses. It can also be used to measure the user's pupillary distance with high accuracy.

Our solution brings a revolutionary approach to the measurement of refraction, where no known lens is needed in the process. Instead, we apply a new analytic method to directly measure the refractive error of an eye or the power of an unknown lens, while mitigating any accommodation effect on the measurement. Our eye refraction test is based on subjective methodologies thus resulting in superior results over standard objective methods. Our founders bring extensive experience from the ophthalmic world, where they have designed and developed multi-focal contact lenses and multi-focal  intra ocular lenses, combining both engineering capabilities with clinical experience. Our technology is based on unique, patented IP.

The online optical industry is on a fast growth track, on the cusp of a breakthrough that will materialize with the application of new digital technologies such as ours.    Having a sustainable business model in the developed world will allow us to make this technology available in places where the access to vision care is limited or non existed.

Today there are 3.4 billion smartphone subscriptions globally, and while growth has been leveling off in developed markets like the U.S. and Europe, it’s not stalling altogether by a long shot. By 2020, globally there will be 6.1 smartphone users led by huge growth in less mature markets. With our software only solution, a mobile app, every person on earth can have access to our technology in the palm of their hand. Partnering with eyewear equipment distributers who are building today the infrastructure for future growth, is our way to create a complete eco-system, even in places where none exists today.

We have reimagined all fundamental optometric tools and fitted them into the smartphone, enabling a complete and accurate measurement of the refractive error of the eye, for eyeglasses and contact lens prescription, using nothing but software.

Our solution brings a revolutionary approach to the measurement of refraction, where no known lens is needed in the process.

We apply a new analytic method to directly measure the refractive error of an eye or the power of an unknown lens, while mitigating any accommodation effect on the measurement. Our eye refraction test is based on subjective methodologies thus resulting in superior results over standard objective methods. Our founders bring extensive experience from the ophthalmic world, where they have designed and developed multi-focal contact lenses and multi-focal  intra ocular lenses, combining both engineering capabilities with clinical experience. Our technology is based on unique, patented IP.

Growth and Scale of the GlassesOn app (Lensmeter and PD-meter) in the relevant geographies.

Launch of the Mobile Subjective refraction tool.

Bridging the gap of visual impairment means equal opportunities in education, employment and personal well-being.  GlassesOn will bring all fundamental optometric tools to the hands of people everywhere, regardless of where they live and what they can afford. A village girl from China or a hipster from Brooklyn will both gain perfect vision which would allow them both to reach their full potential.

There are 3.4 billion smartphone subscriptions globally, and while growth has been leveling off in developed markets like the U.S. and Europe, it’s not stalling altogether by a long shot. By 2020, globally there will be 6.1 smartphone users led by huge growth in less mature markets. With our software only solution, a mobile app, every person on earth can have access to our technology in the palm of their hand. Partnering with eyewear equipment distributers who build the infrastructure for future growth, is our way to create a complete eco-system, even in places where none exists today.

Currently we are serving dozen of thousands of people in the territories we are operating. 

Some of those have directly downloaded GlassesOn mobile app and used it to gain their prescription glasses. Others have used the app through our partner distributors in the US and in India.

Today, a staggering 2.5 Billion people with poor vision have no access to treatment. That is equal to the population of China, India, and Japan combined.

In 12 months we expect to be fully operational within the US, China, India and Europe. 

In India alone there are around 400 M people with impaired vision.

In China - around 400 M people.

We expect to serve hundred of thousands of people in the coming year and reach out for millions in the following years. 

Our founders (Dr. Ofer Limon,CEO & Dr. Alex Zlotnik, CTO) met on a previous startup, where they have designed and developed multi-focal contact lenses and multi-focal intra-ocular lenses. They had successfully commercialized it's unique technology to a leading contact lenses manufacturer. Rest of the team brings extensive experience in the fields of mobile / web consumer application development, UX/UI, algorithms, image-processing, optics and physics. The breadth and depth of the interdisciplinary capabilities our team brings give us an edge over others, both in coming up with creative, revolutionary ideas and the ability to deliver on them.

The online prescription eyewear market is hindered by the need to physically visit the optometrist to obtain a prescription, which is costly and time consuming. This broken funnel limits the online eyewear market from reaching its full potential. GlassesOn enables a truly spontaneous purchase of prescription glasses, disrupting the existing online channels, substantially increasing the addressable market size and generating significant added value to the involved stakeholders

The online optical industry is on a fast growth track, on the cusp of a breakthrough that will materialize with the application of new digital technologies such as ours.  Having a sustainable business model in the developed world will allow us to make this technology available in places where the access to vision care is limited or non existed.

Since funds are in place for our short term goals, we intend to use the prize money to accelerate R&D for our mid-long term milestones. Obviously, we will use the winning announcement for PR purposes in order to widely promote the initial launch of GlassesOn application.

We would love to gain connections to the MIT campus and to have Impact Measurement Validation and Support in place.

Revolutions don't happen in a day. Changing the status-quo require different thinking and fresh approaches. We expect to make quicker headways in markets that are open to innovation, and trust that the positive impact we will demonstrate there will motivate other markets to follow suit.