MyOptique Raises £8 Million As Founder Steps Down

Glasses Direct group MyOptique has raised £8 million to fund new acquisitions and international growth.

The firm, which owns Glasses Direct, Sunglasses Shop and LensOn, raised the new funds from existing partners Index Ventures, Highland Partners and Acton Capital Partners. New backers included Cipio Partners, which bought out the majority of Murray Wells' shares, and GP Bullhound Sidecar.

It follows the last fund raising of £10 million in December 2012 and a further £20 million raised between 2007 and 2011.

The deal also marks the departure of founder and chairman Jamie Murray Wells who will leave the business to concentrate on his work at Google. He has been industry manager for retail since June and was this month promoted to industry head, retail.

The group has also appointed founder and chairman of Amery Capital Maurice Helfgott as non-executive chairman.

Back in June it emerged that MyOptique had appointed advisers at GP Bullhound - which the Sunday Telegraph described as 'one of the most active advisers in the digital sector' - to examine its options which were understood to include a float. A stock market listing would have valued the business at around £100 million, the newspaper reported in at the time.

The report also said MyOptique's chief executive Kevin Cornils had instructed Egon Zehnder to identify a non-executive chairman to take over from Murray Wells should a listing take place.

The group said in the statement announcing this month's deal that it had this year achieved profitability for the second year in a row. It expects to complete the financial year ending February 2014 with over £35 million in sales.

Cornils said in the statement: '2013 has been a busy year for us at the MyOptique Group, so it’s great to see the support of our existing and new investors. We now have a full service optical business that spans eight European markets, have served over 800,000 customers, shipping an order every 40 seconds.'

Within the Amery Capital portfolio Helfgott currently serves as chairman of clothing retailer Long Tall Sally where he led the acquisition and restructuring of the business. He is also chairman of the luxury brand Oliver Sweeney. He started his career as a trainee at Marks & Spencer and became executive director food then the same role in clothing and home.