Over half of Americans need corrective eyewear, but getting a prescription requires an eye exam, which can take weeks due to a shortage of optometrists, especially in rural areas.
Eyebot, a Boston-based startup, aims to change that by reducing eye exam times to 90 seconds without an optometrist. Starting in October, Eyebot will launch its vision-testing kiosks in shopping centers, grocery stores, and pharmacies in New England.
Users can simply walk up to the 5-foot kiosk, press a button, and have their eyes scanned using computer vision technology, which extracts their prescription for glasses or contact lenses. While Eyebot can’t perform initial contact lens fittings, it can update existing prescriptions.
Eyebot’s founder and CEO Matthias Hofmann, who previously developed similar technology at EyeNetra, says the key to Eyebot’s success is its fully automated experience, requiring no user learning or complicated procedures.
Prescriptions generated by Eyebot are finalized by teledoctors within 24 hours. The exam costs $30 unless the user buys glasses from an Eyebot partner brand, in which case it’s free. The technology is FDA-registered.
Eyebot plans to partner with major eyeglass brands to place its terminals in various retail locations. After the exam, users can buy glasses directly from the kiosk or via their smartphone. Eyebot will earn revenue by taking a commission on each sale from partnered brands.
According to Hofmann, demand for Eyebot’s service is high, and the company is close to finalizing partnerships with several large eyewear merchants. On Thursday, Eyebot announced a $6 million seed funding round led by AlleyCorp and Ubiquity Ventures, with participation from Susa Ventures, Village Global, Baukunst, Ravelin, and Spacecadet. The funds will be used for geographic expansion.
