Vision loss is one of America’s quietest healthcare failures. Roughly 75% of adults rely on glasses or contacts, yet many live in counties without access to vision care. Optometry is the sole provider of eye care in 39% of U.S. counties, and in many rural regions, patients must drive over an hour and wait weeks just to renew a prescription or get a basic vision test. Such delays do more than blur the world; they postpone comprehensive eye exams that can detect glaucoma, cataracts, and diabetic retinopathy, the latter now being the leading cause of preventable blindness among working‑age adults.

At General Catalyst, we believe in a future of health assurance, where care is proactive, accessible, and affordable. One key pathway to this future is through applied AI supervised by a clinician that can condense specialist workflows into everyday self-serve moments that meet patients where they are. Eyebot embodies this approach with its clinically validated, 90-second vision test distilled into a kiosk that can be deployed anywhere people already shop, work, or study. That’s why we’re leading the company’s $20M Series A.

Putting Vision Care Where Life Happens

Nearly 85 % of prescription eyewear is still bought in‑store, even though a sizable proportion of shoppers arrive with no valid prescription, freezing the sale on the spot. And prescriptions often expire after twelve to twenty‑four months, forcing repeat visits that many consumers skip. For individuals, this is a frustrating barrier to receiving the care they know they need. For retailers, this is a missed opportunity to sell glasses to people who need them. Eyebot resolves this friction by placing a kiosk next to the glasses display, offering free 90-second vision tests that provide doctor-verified prescriptions without appointments or insurance. This creates a win-win for consumers and retailers alike.

Eyebot is able to do this by seamlessly integrating the generative and physical worlds. Their kiosk blends precision optics, sensors, and micro‑actuators with an AI refraction engine that completes much of the computation on‑device before sending compact data to the cloud for final clinician review. The workflow is fast, private, and inexpensive. A remote eye doctor checks the results and crafts the final prescription, which is then sent to the patient via email within 24 hours. This marriage of hardware and software transforms what was an arduous procedure into a ninety‑second amenity anyone can use between errands.

A Visionary Team

Eyebot’s founders fuse deep tech, clinical rigor, and go‑to‑market muscle into a single directive: put clear sight within arm’s reach of everyone. Dr. Matthias Hofmann has spent a decade pursuing that mission, and his patented refraction engine powers the kiosk at the heart of the company. Around him hums a team of top clinical experts and commercial leaders with experience negotiating with large retailers and shipping millions of connected devices, together ensuring that quality and compliance are in lock-step with growth.

Eyebot exemplifies our belief in the opportunities that exist when AI with human oversight thoughtfully interacts with our built world. We look forward to partnering with the team on their mission to make sharp, effortless vision a default feature of daily life—no appointment required.