Glasses Direct secures £10m investment to fund growth
We’ve got some news I’ve been wanting to share for a while that we’re hugely excited to announce. In what some people describe as the toughest economic times since World War II, Glasses Direct has secured £10m in working capital funding which we will be using to expand our business. With the world class management team that we’ve built and this further capital we’ve brought in, we’re all set on our way to becoming a household brand, something that was one of my founding visions.
The new funding is from an international group of investors. Our newest investor is Munich based Acton Capital Partners, joined by existing investors Index Ventures of London/Geneva and Boston based Highland Capital Partners who have both reinvested in our business along with some of the early investors making a contribution to the round, including my own family.
We’ll be using the money to invest in our roots. For the first three months this year in the UK we’ve seen our best performance ever for the company. We’ve shipped tens of thousands of pairs of glasses to our UK customers; we’ve launched new ranges; new ways of buying and trialing our glasses; and we’re looking at ways of innovating in online commerce across the board. As well as reaching new customers internationally we’re also going to be using our new funding as capital to expand our UK business.
Thanks to the whole of the team here at Glasses Direct too. We’ve been a family since we started five years ago in Wiltshire.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 at 8:39 pm by Jamieand is filed under Glasses Direct. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
April 22nd, 2009 at 11:21 am
Well done GD. We are also having the most successful start to the year since our business began and yesterday was one of our busiest days ever.
Seems that more and more people are aware that they actually have a choice where they can buy their prescription glasses from, and between Glasses Direct, SelectSpecs.com and those other sites out there, we really are helping people to save a few extra pounds in these difficult economic times.
Keep it up GD, its a pleasure to have competition from a rival like yourselves.
April 22nd, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Congrats on the latest round and on the results to date.
When are you coming to the States? (I’m in the market for another pair now–and live not far from Highland Capital, in fact.)
April 22nd, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Lee: not long.
April 30th, 2009 at 11:27 am
Hi Jamie,
Love the website – we keep it up in our practice to show our patients that we are cheaper than all the chains and you!!!
Of course being in Scotland and getting the NHS funding really helps – my big fear (and should be yours too) is that NHS funding for tests is extended to the whole of the UK – because you can bet the big retailers like Tesco and Asda will really ramp up their optical divisions as they will be able to cover their instore optical depts from the fees and sell complete from a Fiver.
Cheers
Bob