The UAE and Saudi-based eyewear startup Eyewa has made it onto the Forbes’ ranking of the Top 50 most-funded startups in the Mena region.
In total, Eyewa raised $30 million this year, reaching 35th place on the Forbes’ ranking.
According to Forbes, Eyewa boasts a broad base of investors including venture capitals Kingsway Capital, Nuwa Capital, French Partners, Endeavor Catalyst, Derayah, Palm Drive, Hardy Capital, EQ2 Ventures, Wamda Capital, GS Shop, 500 Startups, Khwarizmi Ventures and Faith Capital.
The company has operations mainly in the Middle East in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain.
Last month, Eyewa opened its fiftieth store in the GCC – and its tenth in the UAE at the Mall of the Emirates, Dubai.
Established jointly by Morocco’s Anass Boumediene, Mehdi Oudghiri and Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah Al Rugaib in 2017 as an e-commerce company, the startup has rapidly expanded into physical retail four years later.
Managing director of Eyewa in the UAE, Elias Tsikhlakhis, said: “We initially invested heavily in the online channel because there was a gap in the market with very little supply of eyewear online. Over time, we realised that the same gap existed in the offline market, especially in the affordable segment – and that pushed us to expand to offline retail to reach more customers with these unmet needs.”
In 2021, Eyewa opened 16 stores in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. In addition, it established various house brands, including lifestyle eyewear brand 30Sundays and fast fashion brand Blackout, as well as the contact lens brand Layala.
Eyewa’s fundraising track in 2022, like other startups in Forbes’s regional ranking, has successfully navigated the choppy waters of the economic downturn impacting the Mena region.
On balance, Forbes noted that the region’s startups have attracted substantial funding throughout this year. For instance, Egyptian startups led the way with a staggering $80 million, followed by Saudi Arabian startups with $46 million, according to data platform Wamada.
The 50 startups included in the Forbes ranking raised a cumulative figure of $3.2 billion, as opposed to the $3 billion recorded last year.
The Forbes data demonstrate that fintech companies are still outshining other startups, with 21 companies attracting $1.3 billion in total funding.
