MyOptique Group has closed an £8 million investment round to help with international expansion plans.

Index Ventures, Highland Capital Partners and Acton Capital Partners are leading the deal, alongside new backers Cipio Partners and GP Bullhound Sidecar.

The £8 million which has been secured by the optical services provider will be used to fund new growth and potential acquisitions.

Having first set up as Glasses Direct in 2005, MyOptique Group was rebranded from Prescription Eyewear earlier in 2013. The business bought Sunglasses Shop in 2011 and now provides products ranging from sun wear to contact lenses.

According to a statement, the company is in its second year of profitability and predicts gross retail sales of revenues to be £35 million during this year. It was also recently named as one of the members of the Tech City UK and government scheme the Future Fifty.
The programme is designed to provide bespoke access to government and private sector expertise ahead of a stock market listing.

MyOptique’s last funding round was closed in December 2012 and was worth £10 million. Prior to that it raised £20 million between 2007 and 2011.

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Kevin Cornils, chief executive of MyOptique, comments, ‘It’s great to see the support of our existing and new investors, as well as the recognition of Tech City UK’s Future Fifty initiative.

‘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.’

As part of the deal, Maurice Helfgott will be joining MyOptique as chairman to provide experience in fashion retailing and public company operations. Helfgott is the founder and chairman of digital, retail and consumer business investor Amery Capital and senior independent non-executive director of stock market-listed Moss Bros.

Helfgott says, ‘The online opportunity in the sector is absolutely enormous, and the team has positioned the business tremendously well to ensure they emerge as the leader.’