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Eyewa raises $21m in latest Series B funding round

Eyewa has announced its latest Series B funding round of $21 million, which will support the company with its ambitious expansion plans, further investment in top-tier technology and product teams, as well as retail and omnichannel technology.

The round was co-led by Kingsway and Nuwa Capital, with participation from French Partners, Endeavor Catalyst, Derayah, Palm Drive, and Hardy Capital.

Created with the vision of becoming the largest tech-enabled eyewear company in the Middle East, eyewa is now embarking on a journey to enter the retail sector. With many brands in the past year going from offline to online, eyewa is heading in a different direction and exploring opportunities with bricks and mortar stores in key locations, taking customer experiences to the next level.

Mehdi Oudghiri, co-Founder of eyewa, said: “We have built eyewa with customers in mind in every part of our journey. After building a truly disruptive online offering with best-in-class customer experience, we are very excited to embark on an omnichannel journey that will allow our customers to explore eyewa’s differentiated experience in both the physical and digital world. Our stores are built on the basis of what made our success online, with a vibrant look and feel in line with our times, leveraging technology in every aspect of customers’ interaction and exclusive products at accessible prices.”

Since its launch in 2017, the homegrown Middle East brand has cemented itself as a leader in the eyewear e-commerce market and has built a trusted and reliable reputation in the UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain. Not only does it stock and sell contact lenses and eyewear from all the major brands, eyewa has also invested heavily into building its house brands which fulfil untapped wants and needs of the local market.

Eyewa has designed and developed three unique ranges spanning different price points; including the lifestyle eyewear brand 30Sundays, the fast fashion collection called Blackout, as well as a natural colour contact lenses range, Layala. The homegrown brand has specifically created these for the modern Middle Eastern consumer.

Anass Boumediene, co-Founder of eyewa, added: “This fundraise will boost our expansion plans and will enable us to offer a better customer experience in the eyewear vertical, both online and offline. The customer response since our launch four years ago has been formidable and we count on keeping our promise of offering the best products at the best price across the region. While we have focused our first few years in our home markets of UAE and KSA, we are now expanding beyond to the rest of Mena and will bring our successful formula of affordable eyewear and amazing customer experience to a wider audience.”

This $21 million series B funding round brings the total funding to date of eyewa to $30 million, after eyewa had raised a $1.1 million seed round in 2018 led by EQ2 Ventures and a $7.5 million series A funding round in 2019 led by Wamda Capital.

Khaled Talhouni, MP of Nuwa Capital, said: "We’ve been working with Anass and Mehdi since the beginning of their journey and it is such a privilege to have a front row seat to the development of a company as remarkable as eyewa. A big part of our thesis at Nuwa Capital is to focus on the next evolution of retail. The confluence of offline, online and private label-driven commerce is at the heart of this thesis, and we would be hard-pressed to find a team that has executed as well as eyewa has on this concept in the region."

business@khaleejtimes.com