Our Co-founder Optometrist, Valerie Kennelly, and her team have dedicated years of research and development to building a scalable solution that ensures everyone sees to the best of their ability. Over two billion people have vision impairment representing a significant global health challenge. Providing spectacles could halve this number, but identifying these individuals from a population of 8.2 billion remains a major obstacle.
Providing spectacles could halve this number, but identifying these individuals from a population of 8.2 billion remains a major obstacle. Our mission is to ensure that everyone can see to the best of their ability and connect them with proper care. Optolab has developed eye tests using virtual reality technology that enable local Optometrists to quickly and affordably identify individuals who are most in need of spectacle correction, and to triage referrals to appropriate eyecare professionals. Optolab is dedicated to fair access to vision solutions worldwide. Co-Founded by Optometrist Valerie Kennelly, the team has developed affordable virtual reality eye tests to identify individuals in need of spectacles.
is a second-generation Optometrist who has run a community practice in Trim, Co. Meath, Ireland since 2003. Her late father, Ted, one of five members of the Kennelly family to operate community pharmacies in Co. Kerry, Ireland, was a founding member of the Association of Dispensing Opticians. Valerie qualified from Glasgow Caledonian University in 1992 with an Honours Degree in Optometry. Since then, she has worked as a community optometrist. She has a special interest in children's and sports vision, regularly travelling to developing countries as a volunteer and gaining a close-up view of the global challenge of vision screening. She was inspired to solve this major issue and has worked with her team from 2019 to 2026, when Optolab released its vision testing solution to community Optometrists.