Beringea et al. provide £16m extension to MyOptique series-C

Silicon Valley Bank and Korys, the investment arm of the Colruyt supermarket group, were also involved in the latest investment.

Previous contributions to the round came from existing investors Acton Capital Partners, Highland Capital Partners and Index Ventures. The backers also provided capital in the form of a loan, which was later converted to equity.

The fresh capital will enable MyOptique to undertake marketing activity and European expansion as well as furthering its acquisitive strategy.

The new investors stated they were attracted to the deal by MyOptique's potential for disrupting the eyewear market and by the company's management team.

Beringea invested from the ProVen VCTs, which recently provided capital for a £1.25m series-A investment in London-based big data services company Big Data Partnership.

Previous funding
MyOptique raised its first institutional funding round in 2007 when Index Ventures and Highland Capital Partners committed £3.8m to the firm. Two years later, the company raised £10m from its existing backers and Acton Capital Partners.

Company
Launched in 2005 as Glasses Direct, the business was later renamed Prescription Eyewear before a second rebranding in 2014 saw it become the MyOptique Group. The company, which is based in Wiltshire, stated it has recently served its millionth customer.

The group reported revenue of £34m for the year ending April 2014 with nearly two thirds of its income generated from non-UK sales. Turnover has increased by an average of 53% per year since MyOptique's first round of VC investment in 2009.

MyOptique also includes a prescription sunglasses business, Glasses Direct, which acquired Sunglasses Shop in 2011. Additional bolt-ons include the acquisition of LensOn AB to develop the group's product offering.

People
Kevin Cornils is CEO of MyOptique. Trevor Hope is chief investment officer at Beringea. Vincent Vliebergh is CEO of Korys.

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• Topics
• UK / Ireland
• Consumer
• Expansion
• Beringea Limited
• Silicon Valley Bank (SVB)
• United Kingdom