The Silent Crisis

It began with a staggering number: 253 million. That is the number of people worldwide living with visual impairments. What struck us most wasn't just the magnitude of this figure, but the realization that the majority of these cases were preventable or treatable. In Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), however, a severe shortage of trained professionals and medical infrastructure meant that millions were losing their sight simply because they couldn't access a basic screening.

Bridging the Gap with Innovation

We asked ourselves: How can we deliver high-quality eye care to the most remote corners of the world without relying on expensive, heavy equipment? The answer lay in the devices we use every day. Born as a spin-off from Project BOM at Yonsei University Health System, LabSD embarked on a mission to transform the familiar into the extraordinary.

Turning Old Phones into New Hope

We saw potential where others saw waste. Collaborating with the Samsung Galaxy Upcycling Program, we developed the EYELIKE™ Platform—a solution that repurposes older smartphones into advanced, portable fundus cameras. This innovation was a turning point. It allowed us to lower costs, reduce electronic waste, and most importantly, place powerful diagnostic tools into the hands of community health workers.

Empowering the Community

Technology is only as good as the people who use it. Our approach goes beyond hardware; we focus on task-shifting. By empowering local health practitioners with our easy-to-use, AI-assisted platform, we bridge the gap between patients in resource limited conditions and world standard ophthalmic services. Today, LabSD is not just a technology provider; we are building a sustainable ecosystem where data drives decisions and proper health service is for everyone/everywhere.

A Note from the Founder

The desire to live a long, healthy, and happy life with beloved ones is a universal desire of human beings. What we do is to make that desire come true, no matter where you live.

I have always believed that where you are at should not dictate the quality of healthcare you receive. My journey into global health began with a simple yet profound realization: effective and efficient aid does not exist in the world of just giving away, but respecting and strengthening the local ecosystem is the single most important expect of the proper development. The idea of "Do No Harm” is the cornerstone of LabSD’s philosophy.

We did not want to be disrupts local systems. Instead, we sought to build sustainability in the system. We chose eye health as our starting point because it is a small scale of the entire global health challenges, encompassing everything from infectious diseases to chronic conditions. Through LabSD, we are proving that innovation does not always have to be something new; it rather needs to be appropriate. By upcycling technology and integrating AI, we are extending our reach from preventing blindness and promoting eye health to diagnosing systemic for chronic diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Our vision is clear: A world without barriers to proper healthcare services. Thank you for joining us on this journey toward a healthier and sustainable world.

Holden Yoon Seung Kim Founder & CEO, LabSD, Inc.