Transforming the optical industry.

The Group, Europe’s leading online optical retailer, secured £16 million (€20m) additional investment, bringing the total raised in its current Series C funding round to £35 million (€43m). At the same time it has posted its year end results, showing EBITDA profitability for the second year running.

The latest investment came from two new investors: Korys and Beringea, with additional funding from existing investors Cipio Partners and Silicon Valley Bank. Together with the initial Series C investment round from previous investors Acton Capital Partners, Highland Capital Partners and Index Ventures, the £35m (€43m) round is one of the five biggest UK technology venture capital investments of 2014. It will be used to finance further marketing investment and further expansion into Europe as well as acquisitions.

Kevin Cornils, CEO at MyOptique Group, commented: “We are delighted to welcome our new investors and for the support from existing investors, and thrilled to have the opportunity to further scale in our core geographies and accelerate our growth efforts. GP Bullhound played a critical role in the fundraising and their sector expertise and pan European network were important to the success of the round”.

“We are delighted to have worked on our fourth transaction with MyOptique and assist them in creating the European leader in the online optical sector.

Long term relationships with category leaders are a fundamental part of GP Bullhound’s strategy”, said GP Bullhound Managing Partner Manish Madhvani.

This represents the completion of GP Bullhound’s 14th transaction in 2014 and highlights the firm’s commitment to working with category leaders in the eCommerce space.

Enquiries

For enquiries contact Manish Madhvani, Managing Partner, manish.madvani@gpbullhound.com and Alessandro Casartelli, Senior Associate alessandro.casartelli@gpbullhound.com

GP Bullhound

GP Bullhound is an international technology investment banking group with offices in London, San Francisco, Stockholm, Berlin and Manchester. Founded in 1999, GP Bullhound provides world-class advice on mergers, acquisitions and private placements to a diverse range of corporate clients, institutional investors and high net worth individuals.
Combining a true love for entrepreneurship and innovation with deep global buyer relations and sector expertise, GP Bullhound has completed transactions for tech category leaders, most recently selling Cambridge Technology Partners to Atos, Pozitron to Monitise, Pure360 to SEP, Tunigo to Spotify, and Fjord to Accenture. For more information, please visit www.gpbullhound.com
In 2013, GP Bullhound was awarded Boutique Investment Bank of the Year and Leading Advisers of the Year by the Acquisition International M&A Awards, and Manish Madhvani, a Founding Partner of GP Bullhound was named as a winner of the fourth annual M&A Advisor 40 Under 40 Award.

MyOptique Group

MyOptique Group is revolutionising the £20 billion European optical industry by cutting out the high street middle man – and providing its customers with a superior service and significant savings. The group is the clear European leader in the growing online optical segment with a full offering covering all three major segments in the eyewear market  – prescription glasses, contact lenses and sunglasses – via its Glasses Direct, Sunglasses Shop, LensOn and MyOptique websites.