UAE's eyewa Raises $100m Series C Led by General Atlantic to Fuel GCC Retail Expansion
The region's largest eyewear retailer closes one of the year's biggest consumer-tech rounds, taking total funding to about $130m as it doubles down on physical stores and local manufacturing.
eyewa, the Middle East's largest omnichannel eyewear retailer, has closed a $100 million Series C round led by global growth investor General Atlantic, with participation from Badwa Capital and Turmeric Capital. The round takes the company's total capital raised to roughly $130 million and ranks among the larger consumer-technology financings in the Gulf.
Founded in 2017 by Mehdi Oudghiri and Anass Boumedien, eyewa began as an online retailer of prescription glasses, sunglasses and contact lenses before aggressively expanding into brick-and-mortar retail. The company now operates more than 150 stores across the GCC and runs a vertically integrated model that spans its own house brands, third-party labels and in-store eye-testing services.
Management said the fresh capital will bankroll an ambitious offline push, including the opening of at least 100 new stores during 2025 and the launch of a dedicated production and lens-fitting hub in Riyadh. The company also earmarked a portion of the proceeds for research and development and senior talent, as it works to reinforce its lead in Saudi Arabia and the UAE while deepening its footprint in Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.
eyewa's raise underscores investor appetite for category-leading consumer brands in the Gulf that pair digital-first origins with rapidly scaling retail networks, a model increasingly favoured as regional shoppers move between online and in-store channels.