naut Foundation

The Visonaut Foundation is a public charity dedicated to helping people overcome the barriers that prevent them from receiving quality vision care.

2.5 billion people worldwide need glasses but don’t have access to them and more than 3.5 billion people suffer from some related eye condition due to lack of access to UV resistant eye wear. And in India, 140 million children lack the glasses they need to read a book, see the board, or participate in class or just enjoy life. 220 million Indians suffer from eye sight degradation and related diseases due to a lack of UV protective eye wear.

3.5 billion people/workers / everyday heroes around the world need protective eyewear but don’t have access to them; of these, 220 million people are in India and do not have access to protective eyewear.

To help address this problem, we work with a handful of partners in India to ensure that for every pair of NAUT sunglasses purchased, a pair of glasses is distributed to someone in need. There are two models we employ:

1) Empowering people to administer basic eye exams and sell sunglasses at ultra-affordable prices. (This accounts for the majority of our distribution, currently in Mumbai only, we are building up our network in other states of India and hope to have a pan India coverage soon)

2) Directly giving vision care and glasses to those in need, via cross-sector partnerships - focussed on gig economy workers, cab drivers and truck drivers. ( We would love to increase this stream to include everyone who is at risk and our building-up processes to include these everyday heroes).