The Venture Codex

Participated · Equity · Aug 2015

MyOptique Group is a UK online optical company that operates a portfolio of retail eyewear brands. The group acquired German eyewear business 4Care and UK online eyewear business Eyewearbrands as part of an expansion strategy to strengthen its leadership across European eyewear categories. 4Care sells prescription glasses, contact lenses and sunglasses through Lensbest.de, a wholesale operation Acumed and brands Lennox Eyewear and Lenscare; Eyewearbrands offers more than 75 designer labels including Dior, Oliver Peoples and Miu Miu. The acquisitions join Glasses Direct, Sunglasses Shop, LensOn, MyOptique and Netzoptiker in the group retail portfolio. The combined businesses have served a total of 3 million customers and are expected to generate €100m of Gross Retail Sales in the current year. The company is led by CEO Kevin Cornils and completed the transactions using newly raised funding. MyOptique Group is a full-service online optical business offering branded and own-brand prescription glasses, contact lenses and sunglasses via a portfolio of international websites including Glasses Direct, Sunglasses Shop, LensOn and MyOptique. Led by CEO Kevin Cornils and based in London, the company has been expanding its presence in Europe. Management plans to use the new funding to boost marketing and product development, accelerate European expansion, and pursue acquisitions. For the year ended April 2014 the company reported gross retail sales of £34m. The business continued its growth into Europe, with non-UK sales accounting for nearly two-thirds of sales. The recent Series C financing underscores investor support for its expansion strategy. MyOptique operates online optical retail brands including Glasses Direct, Sunglasses Shop and LensOn, selling eyewear, sunglasses and contact lenses. The company has developed designer eyewear labels London Retro and Scout and plans to further develop those brands as part of expansion. It runs a full-service optical business across eight European markets, serving over 800,000 customers and shipping an order every 40 seconds. The group has expanded through acquisition (it bought Sunglasses Shop in 2011) and recent product launches include sunglasses and prescription eyewear on LensOn in the Nordics and LensOn contact lenses in the UK. MyOptique says it is in its second year of profitability and predicts gross retail sales of £35 million this year. The business traces its roots to Glasses Direct, which was founded in the UK in 2005.