NEW YORK — Pair Eyewear, a direct-to-consumer brand of customizable eyewear known for its appearance on “Shark Tank,” has closed on a $60 million funding round.
It’s the largest Series B ever raised by an eyewear company, according to a press release. The news follows a $12 million Series A round that closed in April and brings the brand’s total funding to $73.5 million.
Pair offers eyewear for adults and children, including optical glasses, sunglasses and blue light glasses in prescription and non-prescription form. The release explains: “In addition to the brand’s ‘base frame,’ customers can also choose from a wide variety of ‘top frames,’ that attach to the base magnetically, allowing wearers to change their style in a snap.”
Pair offers more than 1,000 customizable top frame designs, including collaborations with Harry Potter, Marvel, the NHL and MLB. Base frames are available starting at $60 including prescription lenses, and top frames start at $25 each.
Co-founder Sophia Edelstein told TechCrunch that the brand, which has been focused on children, is increasing its attention to adult customers.
“They want to match glasses to their outfits and moods, and we found that adults are even better customers because they purchase more rapidly for themselves,” she said. “We have customers that now own hundreds of tops, and there are now thousands of posts on TikTok of them switching them out on.”
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The brand landed a deal during its appearance on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” which aired on March 6, 2020. The deal called for $400,000 for 10 percent of the company, in addition to a royalty structure of $1.50 on each pair of glasses until the Sharks recouped their investment.
The latest round was led by Rick Yang who heads the consumer investing practice at NEA, and Connect Ventures, an investment partnership between entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency and global capital firm New Enterprise Associates. Also joining the round were Javelin Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners and strategic investors including NFL player Christian McCaffrey, NBA player D’Angelo Russell, Olivia Culpo, Sterling K. Brown, internet personality Lachlan Ross Power, professional gamer and entertainment personality Tyler “Ninja” Blevins and YouTube gaming and comedy brand KREW.
