Neso Brands, the Swedish-led, Singapore-based house of brands specializing in eyewear, announced today that it has acquired a significant stake in the Paris-based omnichannel eyewear brand, Le Petit Lunetier. The $4 million (USD) equity investment will be used to accelerate Le Petit Lunetier’s expansion and solidify its brand presence in Europe, as well as introduce the brand to Neso Brands’ core markets in Asia and the Middle East. Following the investment, Bjorn Bergstrom, CEO & co-founder of Neso Brands, and Peyush Bansal, co-founder of Neso Brands and CEO of the Lenskart Group, will join Le Petit Lunetier’s board of directors.
Founded in 2015 by former Google and Rad. co-executive Jérémie Encaoua and optician Elie Attias, Le Petit Lunetier is a direct-to-consumer eyewear brand that offers fashionable designs without compromising on quality or price. As a licensed optician chain, customers are also able to make purchases of prescription lenses in-store that are reimbursable via French public health insurance.
An innovator in the eyewear sector, Le Petit Lunetier has a strong online presence in addition to its brick-and-mortar offerings. The brand operates 16 stores in France, including its new Paris store, and has experienced strong growth in recent years thanks to successful store network expansion in key locations throughout the country and a robust social media following. Up until now, the upstart brand had bootstrapped to profitability with no external equity investment.
Following the investment, Neso Brands’ operational team will support the company across several areas to improve efficiency and growth. This includes rolling out predictive analytics technology throughout Le Petit Lunetier’s retail stores powered by TangoEye, an intelligence software company that is also part of the Neso Brands portfolio. TangoEye’s cloud-based retail analytics software leverages AI, computer vision and deep learning technology to enable high customer engagement and sale conversion in physical stores. The rollout will be led by the Neso Brands’ dedicated in-house tech team and is part of the company’s core strategy of building tech-augmented omnichannel brands.
The investment marks a milestone for the newly founded venture which aims to build out a global house of brands within the eyewear sector. As part of the Lenskart Group, the house brings not just capital but also manufacturing capabilities, technology and distribution support to its portfolio companies. Portfolio brands, for example, have access to a proprietary network of more than 2,000 stores across APAC and MENA as well as supply chain synergies via the world’s largest fully automated eyewear plant outside Delhi, India. The new factory was officially inaugurated last month.
Last year, Neso Brands added the Japanese brand OWNDAYS to its portfolio. The D2C eyewear retailer operates its own store network across 13 markets ranging from Sydney to Dubai and celebrated a major milestone earlier this year with the opening of its 500th store. OWNDAYS has already received support across several areas following the investment to increase both revenue and profitability, including supply chain, analytics and omnichannel technology.
Commenting on the investment in Le Petit Lunetier, Bjorn Bergstrom, CEO of Neso Brands, stated: “We are very excited to have Le Petit Lunetier join our portfolio of global brands and support its next phase of growth. This strategic investment marks our first foray into the European market and we are thrilled to begin this journey by working with Jérémie, Elie, and their leading entrepreneurial team to grow the brand’s potential, both across France and internationally.”
Jérémie Encaoua, co-founder of Le Petit Lunetier, commented: “We are proud to announce our partnership with Neso Brands. As an optician-founded business, our focus from day one has been to provide high-quality lenses paired with fashionable frames, packaged at accessible price points. We look forward to leveraging Neso Brands’ deep operational expertise to further our company ambitions.”
ABOUT LE PETIT LUNETIER
Le Petit Lunetier is a Paris-based eyewear and optical brand founded in 2015 by Elie Attias and Jérémie Encaoua. Although beginning as an online retailer, the company now also owns and operates 16 stores throughout France which offer stylish glasses, durable and of high quality, at an affordable price with an exceptional in-store shopping experience.
ABOUT NESO BRANDS
Founded in 2022 in Singapore, Neso Brands is a tech-augmented venture in the eyewear industry that invests in and houses the consumer brands of tomorrow. Neso Brands has a global reach and is passionate about improving the customer experience in eyewear for millions of people worldwide, by partnering up with the best entrepreneurs in the industry. As part of the Lenskart Group, Neso enables a network effect with every brand that joins its house by leveraging joint resources across analytics, tech, supply chain, and distribution. Its portfolio includes the Japanese eyewear brand OWNDAYS, Paris-based brand Le Petit Lunetier, as well as intelligence software companies TangoEye and GeoIQ
