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1 billion people

lack access to the vision care they urgently need.


This is one of the world’s greatest unresolved public health challenges.
 


 

At the same time

hundreds of millions

of perfectly usable glasses are no longer being used.

 

 
UpGlasses.org brings the right glasses to the right people.
 

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Every Pair has a Person


UpGlasses.org was founded in the summer of 2026. We are currently building our international partner network and are looking for committed individuals and organisations who would like to support our mission.


Would you like to get involved?

We would love to hear from you.

Get involved

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What we can do

Our globally unique platform matches donated glasses individually with people
who cannot afford the vision correction they need.

1 billion people without access to suitable vision correction
100+ million unused pairs of glasses
100 official languages worldwide
1:1 AI matching
100 % digital and globally scalable

Scenario

Amara, aged 10, 
from Nigeria

Amara could no longer see the blackboard clearly. Her school performance declined, and she began to lose her enthusiasm for learning. With her new glasses, she can once again follow lessons and take another step towards achieving her dream of becoming a teacher.

UpGlasses.org
enables education

Child wearing donated glasses

Scenario

Roshan, aged 17, 
from Nepal

Roshan works in a bicycle repair shop after school. Without clear vision, vocational training seemed completely out of reach. With his new glasses, he can continue learning and once again pursue his ambition of becoming an engineer.

UpGlasses.org
creates new opportunities

Young man wearing donated glasses

Scenario

Farida, aged 43, 
from Bangladesh

Farida supports her family through her work as a seamstress. As her eyesight deteriorated, her livelihood was placed at serious risk. With her new glasses, she can work again every day and provide for her family as well as her entire community.

UpGlasses.org
secures livelihoods

Woman wearing donated glasses

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Our digital platform

Our platform will use intelligent algorithms to enable a global one-to-one matching of donated glasses with recipients. Thanks to its cloud-based, multi-tenant architecture and support for all official national languages worldwide, it will be able to scale without limits.




Our platform is currently being developed as a prototype – so that every donated pair of glasses can find the right person in the future.


Would you like to learn more about it?

Then take a look:

Explore the prototype

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The Story of a Simple Idea

The Problem

Michael Krauß (wearing glasses)

At the end of 2025, Michael Krauß’s eyesight deteriorated so severely due to cataracts in both eyes that reading and working became almost impossible. It was only then that he truly realised how profoundly good vision shapes independence, the ability to work, and quality of life.

The Turning Point



Two eye operations fully restored his sight. And suddenly, after wearing glasses for more than fifty years, he no longer needed them.

The Idea

Why should his glasses remain unused in a drawer when they could transform someone else’s life?

The Beginning of a Journey

His research revealed something remarkable: although around one billion people lack access to the vision correction they urgently need, while at the same time hundreds of millions of pairs of glasses are no longer used, no solution existed to bring the two together.

As the founder of several technology-driven companies, he had already developed and successfully scaled digital platforms. Inspired by his own experience, he conceived the idea for the world’s first online platform that intelligently matches donated glasses with people who cannot afford them – UpGlasses.org.

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