{"id":645352,"date":"2024-11-27T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/eyewa-now-has-150-stores-selling-eyeglasses-in-the-mideast-and-just-raised-100m-to-add-100-more\/"},"modified":"2024-11-27T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T06:00:00","slug":"eyewa-now-has-150-stores-selling-eyeglasses-in-the-mideast-and-just-raised-100m-to-add-100-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/eyewa-now-has-150-stores-selling-eyeglasses-in-the-mideast-and-just-raised-100m-to-add-100-more\/","title":{"rendered":"#Eyewa now has 150 stores selling eyeglasses in the Mideast, and just raised $100M to add 100 more"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a22c2892a763\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a22c2892a763\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/eyewa-now-has-150-stores-selling-eyeglasses-in-the-mideast-and-just-raised-100m-to-add-100-more\/#From_delivering_food_to_selling_eyeglasses\" >From delivering food to selling eyeglasses<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/eyewa-now-has-150-stores-selling-eyeglasses-in-the-mideast-and-just-raised-100m-to-add-100-more\/#Scaling_its_omnichannel_experience\" >Scaling its omnichannel experience<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<div>\n<p id=\"speakable-summary\" class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Helping consumers find the perfect glasses is a booming global business, spawning giants like Warby Parker in the U.S. and Lenskart in India. In the Middle East, this market is producing its own rising powerhouse: <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/eyewa.com\">Eyewa<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Eyewa, based in Dubai and Riyadh, sells a wide range of eyewear products, including pre<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">script<\/a>ion glasses, sunglasses, blue light glasses, and contact lenses, through a DTC e-commerce and retail platform across five Mideast markets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, the company has raised $100 million <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Series<\/a> C round. The round, led by global growth investor <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">General<\/a> Atlantic, brings Eyewa\u2019s total funding to $130 million since its 2017 launch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Founded by<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/boumediene\/details\/experience\/\"> Anass Boumediene<\/a>, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/mehdioudghiri\/?originalSubdomain=ae\">Mehdi Oudghiri<\/a>, and <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/abdullah-alrugaib\/?originalSubdomain=sa\">Abdullah AlRugaib<\/a> \u2013 all former Bain &amp; Company consultants \u2013 Eyewa initially entered the eyewear market as an e-commerce retailer for third-party brands. However, the company soon launched its own brands after identifying unmet needs in the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Between 2015 and 2017, co-CEOs Boumediene and Oudghiri led Foodpanda\u2019s regional operations under Rocket Internet and DeliveryHero ownership. Their experience scaling the food-delivery business \u2013 which they claim to have grown 50x in three years and taken to profitability \u2013 motivated them to start their own company.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAfter our time with Foodpanda, we were hooked on entrepreneurship and knew we wanted to start something of our own,\u201d shared co-CEO Boumediene on a call with TechCrunch. \u201cWe wanted to find the right problem to solve, so we started exploring ideas and comparing challenges we saw across different regions.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-from-delivering-food-to-selling-eyeglasses\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"From_delivering_food_to_selling_eyeglasses\"><\/span>From delivering food to selling eyeglasses<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The founders brainstormed 87 ideas, and after filtering options with a list of 15 criteria and conducting a six-month evaluation, they landed on the eyewear market, a vastly different industry from food delivery. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They discovered demand for eyewear was growing significantly, but the supply wasn\u2019t keeping up. Myopia was rising in the region\u2019s relatively young population (one <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/36706332\/#:~:text=The%20prevalence%20of%20myopia%20and,myopia%20in%20non%2DEmiratis%20only.\">study<\/a> shows that the prevalence of myopia and high myopia in the UAE is around 27%). In addition, local eyewear companies were focused on in-store sales, rarely did any e-commerce, and their brands weren\u2019t affordable or tailored to the mass market.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With no prior experience in the eyewear industry, Eyewa started by selling eyewear brands, including Ray-Ban, Gucci, Prada, and Johnson &amp; Johnson, online for two years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By then, it had enough data on customer behavior, including cart additions, website searches, and purchase patterns, to design and launch its own in-house brands. Now, Eyewa has nine proprietary brands for diverse preferences, from older customers seeking functional eyewear to younger buyers looking for trendy options. Currently, 96% of Eyewa\u2019s revenue comes from these in-house brands, which, according to the company, has been key to keeping prices affordable for the mass market, including smaller cities across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Eyewa markets its eyeglasses, even the prescription ones, as fashion accessories, unlike traditional retailers, who tend to treat customers as patients, selling expensive brands like Prada in sterile settings.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe kind of turned around the way we look at the eyewear experience, where fashion is the thing that customers really care about from a choice perspective,\u201d co-CEO Oudghiri commented on the call. \u201cSo that\u2019s what we focus on in the retail experience and the health care aspect, we take care of it. We\u2019re going to give you very high-quality lenses and exhaustive eye tests, and we\u2019ll make sure that you have the best health quality for the eyewear that you buy. But what we want to push in the retail experience is the fashion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Eyewa also keeps prices low: In the Gulf states, Eyewa\u2019s entry-level eyeglasses, including lenses, are priced around $100, approximately 50% less than similar products available in traditional stores.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-scaling-its-omnichannel-experience\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Scaling_its_omnichannel_experience\"><\/span>Scaling its omnichannel experience<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As an e-commerce platform, Eyewa exclusively served customers who already had prescriptions and knew the glasses they wanted. But that\u2019s not exactly a mass market. So it began opening retail stores in December 2020 as Covid lockdowns slowly lifted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The move allowed it to reach a broader customer base, as most eyewear shoppers still prefer in-store experiences to try on frames and complete their purchases. This also allowed Eyewa to own the full customer journey by providing eye examinations, which could only happen in physical stores equipped with optometrists and exam rooms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Eyewa raised a $21 million Series B from several investors, including Nuwa Capital and Endeavor Catalyst, in 2021 to scale this effort, and since then, it has grown to 150 stores, all wholly owned and operated \u2014 no franchises. The startup, which now employs 1,300 people, claims to be the largest eyewear brand in Saudi Arabia by store count and the fastest-growing eyewear retailer globally.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To put this growth into perspective: global benchmarks like Warby Parker took seven years to grow from their first store to 100, and Lenskart in India took about six years to achieve the same milestone.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re the fastest growing globally, but even across categories in the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gulf_Cooperation_Council\">GCC<\/a>, no other retailer in any other vertical did one store to 100 in less than four years. So we really executed super fast,\u201d Boumediene remarked.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Boumediene declined to disclose how much eyewear the company has sold since its launch but did say Eyewa is profitable and growing at over 50% year-over-year in revenues. The company intends to add at least 100 more stores across six countries, including Qatar, its next market, in 2025; it will also open a production facility and fulfillment centre in Riyadh next quarter, said the executive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With this round, General Atlantic joins a growing list of U.S. investors deepening their presence in the GCC by backing startups and establishing local teams, after receiving capital from the region\u2019s sovereign wealth funds. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt seems there is a lot of newfound global interest in the region. We\u2019ve had the VC ecosystem develop in the last five years, and many investments happen in early stage,\u201d commented Mehdi. \u201cBut it\u2019s great to see now more established growth and private equity funds starting to look at the region and the likes of General Atlantic coming, and hopefully many more that will follow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Badwa Capital and Turmeric Capital also participated in the round.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/category\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Technology<\/a><\/span> category.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2024\/11\/26\/eyewa-raises-100m-led-by-general-atlantic\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Helping consumers find the perfect glasses is a booming global business, spawning giants like Warby Parker in the U.S. and Lenskart in India. In the Middle East, this market is producing its own rising powerhouse: Eyewa. Eyewa, based in Dubai and Riyadh, sells a wide range of eyewear products, including prescription glasses, sunglasses, blue light&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":645353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/IMG_8962.jpeg?resize=1200,800","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[152897,152898,74839,152899,25460,71957,81144,52971,103018],"class_list":["post-645352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-eyewa","tag-eyewear-mideast","tag-fundraising","tag-general-atlantic","tag-middle-east","tag-qatar","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-united-arab-emirates","tag-warby-parker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}