Brille24, one of the leading German e-retailers specialized in affordable high-quality prescription eyeglasses, has signed a financing deal with the French growth investor TIME for an amount of up to €12 million, of which €7 million are invested as of today. Matthias Hunecke, who founded the company in 2007 remains the largest shareholder.
Like its competitors Brillen.de and Mister Spex, Brille24 fulfills a core consumer need by offering prescription glasses with the same quality as those sold by traditional opticians, but cheaper.
Brille24 just announced that its revenue has more than doubled over the last two years. The young company sold more than 220,000 pairs of prescriptions eyeglasses in 2011. Brille24 started its international expansion in 2011 under the brands Brillen24, Opticien24 and Optica24. The company’s mid-term goal is “to strengthen its European leadership and to exceed annual sales volumes of 1 million eyeglasses”.
TIME investment provides the equity and expertise to the team, in order to reinforce Brille24’s leading role in Germany and accelerate its expansion in selected European countries.
Mario Zimmermann and Martin van Os, Brille24’s CEO and CFO, stated: “Brille24 is entering a new phase through the further expansion of its product portfolio and geographical footprint. TIME management team has a solid pan-European managerial and entrepreneurial experience, a detailed understanding of the e-commerce industry and the capacity to support us in strategic decisions. As such, TIME is the partner of choice for Brille24 ambitious development.”
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[…] Brille24: Online-Brillenhändler Brille24 erhält eine Millionen-Spritze vom französischen Investor TIME. 12 Millionen Euro sollen dem Anbieter für die weitere Expansion und gegen Mister Spex und Brillen.de den Rücken stärken. […]