eyewa raises $2.5 million

Home-grown online platform for eyewear, eyewa raises $2.5 million through a Pre-Series B Bridge round from Nuwa Capital, Wamda Capital and EQ2 Ventures.

“Our success in the past three years has been driven by our efforts to disrupt the traditional eyewear industry in the region. We offer exclusive and trendy yet affordable eyewear, coupled with best-in-class customer experience,” said eyewa co-founder, Mehdi Oudghiri. “These funds will allow us to accelerate our disruption of MENA’s eyewear retail sector through the implementation of innovative tech solutions, expanding our product portfolio and offering best-in-class customer service.”

Also read: Home-grown online brand eyewa revolutionising eyewear shopping

eyewa specialises in online retail of sunglasses, eyeglasses, prescription contact lenses and coloured contact lenses. It offers a highly customised user experience throughout the discovery, ordering, packaging and delivery process. Operating in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, eyewa saw its business double during the lockdown as many customers switched to online shopping.

“E-commerce companies with a DTC offering like eyewa are reinventing the retail experience by creating both an online and offline experience to interact with customers while remaining nimble enough to scale and optimise as needed,” stated Khaled Talhouni, managing partner, Nuwa Capital. “eyewa has rapidly become the leading contender in the eyewear retail space, competing with both digital and traditional retailers. This is a very fitting first investment for us, as we are uniquely positioned to help accelerate the company’s growth across MENA and particularly in KSA.”

Founded in August 2017 by Anass Boumediene and Oudghiri, eyewa has seen considerable growth over the years. Combining a seed round in January 2018 followed by a Series A round of $7.5 million, eyewa had raised total funding to $8.6 million in 2019. With the additional $2.5 million, eyewa plans to capitalise on the rapid expansion that e-commerce has witnessed during the pandemic and build new capabilities to further strengthen its position in the online eyewear space in the MENA region.

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