May 7th, 2013

The Three Things Warby Parker Did To Launch A Successful Lifestyle Brand

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Warby Parker, like so many other lifestyle/tech hybrid companies, faced the problem many small companies see while trying to launch a real brand: how do you make the story resonate? → Read More

April 13th, 2013

Warby Parker Opens Retail Store In NYC, With Boston Up Next, Beats Google & Amazon To The Offline Punch

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Hip online eyewear startup Warby Parker has, over the last two years, been partnering with boutiques to open “stores-within-stores,” or small Warby Parker showrooms, where customers could try on their eyeglasses in 3-D. These showrooms popped up in L.A., Nashville, San Francisco and many others. Today Warby Parker officially announced its first, flagship retail store in SoHo in New York City. → Read More

March 14th, 2013

Warby Parker Co-Founder Launches Harry’s, Bringing The Startup’s Buy-One-Donate-One Model To Shaving

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Warby Parker co-founder Jeff Raider has teamed up with his old friend Andy Katz-Mayfield to bring a little of that Warby Parker magic to shaving with the launch of Harry’s. In other words, to take a market that is dominated by a small handful of players pushing artificially priced products (with no respect to the quality of the product), bring it online to help remove the friction and high costs… → Read More

February 25th, 2013

Warby Parker Grabs New Investment From American Express & J. Crew CEO, Closing $41.5M Round

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New York-based eyewear startup Warby Parker is off to a good start in 2013, having recently been fingered as a possible partner for Google Glass. Now the company is reported to have gained an additional investment from American Express and J. Crew chief executive Millard S. Drexler. The new investors went in alongside General Catalyst, Spark Capital, Tiger Global Management, Thrive Capital, Lerer… → Read More

December 20th, 2012

Lema21 Raises $1.6M From Social+Capital Partnership And Others To Be The Warby Parker of Brazil

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Lema21, an e-commerce startup that sells quality designer eyewear online, has raised $1.6 million in funding from The Social+Capital Partnership, Micky Malka, Graph Ventures, and Luis Mario Bilenky, ex-president of Fototica, Brazil’s second largest optical chain and the CEO of an established international eyewear company. → Read More

December 12th, 2012

With A Focus On Growth, GlassesDirect Owner Prescription Eyewear Raises $19.3M, Uses The Bulk To Buy Contact Lens Specialist LensOn

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Some “focus” and consolidation afoot in the world of online eyewear sales. Prescription Eyewear, the parent company of GlassesDirect.com, high-end myOptique.com and SunglassesShop.com, has acquired LensOn.com, a Northern European leader in selling contact lenses online. → Read More

September 9th, 2012

Warby Parker Sees Its Way To $36.8M Of A $40M Series B Round, Led By General Catalyst

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David Gilboa and Neil Blumenthal founded Warby Parker last year in an attempt to breathe new life into the eyewear industry. The New York City-based startup has since rocketed to popularity by selling designer and prescription glasses online, for $95 — a price that now includes free shipping and returns. Warby raised $13.5 million in a couple of rounds beginning last year, with a bunch of notable… → Read More

April 26th, 2012

Look, See: Warby Parker Launches $150 Prescription Shades

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There are plenty of places to turn if one is looking to buy prescription glasses, but the problem is that most of those options are expensive. So David Gilboa and Neil Blumenthal started Warby Parker last year to breathe some new life into the eyewear industry by selling designer, prescription glasses online — for $95. The New York-based startup has since gone on to raise $13.5 million from a… → Read More

February 24th, 2012

(Founder Stories) Warby Parker: “Less Than 1% Of Eyeglasses Were Sold Online”

In episode II of Chris Dixon’s Founder Stories interview with Warby Parker’s co-founders, David Gilboa and Neil Blumenthal, the trio discuss topics spanning Warby Parker’s social responsibility efforts to the state of e-commerce.

Speaking to setting up shop in Manhattan, Gilboa (who previously lived in San Francisco) says, “I was sort of brainwashed into thinking that if you wanted to… → Read More

February 22nd, 2012

(Founder Stories) Warby Parker: “Why Should A Pair Of Glasses Cost More Than An iPhone?”

If you’ve ever shopped for a pair of prescription glasses, you’ve probably seen first hand how expensive a set can be. Warby Parker’s co-founders are right there with you.

Both fed-up and puzzled over paying hundreds of dollars for a product that’s been around for hundreds of years, the Warby Parker team is shaking up the eyewear industry by selling prescription glasses online, at a price tag… → Read More

February 3rd, 2012

The Founders of Warby Parker Talk Wire Frames – And The Hipster Question

Earlier this week during the Crunchies we snagged the founders of Warby Parker for a backstage interview — which was fitting, as I’ve been wearing a pair of their specs myself (they seemed pleased by this).

Tune in to the video above for some details on the company’s ‘Buy A Pair, Give A Pair’ program, through which Warby Parker matches every purchase by donating a pair of glasses to people… → Read More

January 24th, 2012

Worvey— Err, Warby Parker Takes A Look Back At Its 2011

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Warby Parker — the New York-based startup that sells prescription, designer glasses for a relatively modest $95 a pop — has just released its annual year in review, outlining some key stats and factoids from the past twelve months. My favorite section: most popular misspellings people search for when they’re trying to find the site, with the leaders including “Worvey Parkers” and “Warmby… → Read More

January 5th, 2012

Announcing The 2011 Crunchies Finalists And Tickets On Sale Now

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The nominations have been tabulated and the votes are in. Over 300,000 nominations were calculated across 20 categories. Along with our partners GigaOm and VentureBeat, we are very proud to announce the finalists for 2011′s best in technology. Voting begins now.

For 2011, we’ve added some new categories. Best Location App, Best Cloud Services and Biggest Social Impact join the Crunchies ranks… → Read More

December 8th, 2011

What Are The Best Startups Of 2011? #Crunchies

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As open nominations for the 5th annual Crunchies awards enters its final week (nominate here until Dec 13), it’s time to figure out which are the best startups and products of 2011. The Crunchies, which we co-host along with GigaOm and VentureBeat, has 20 categories spanning but the most anticipated awards, the ones we save for last, are Best Overall Startup and Best New Startup of 2011.

Last… → Read More