All Corporate articles – Page 4
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ArticleDEG takes over MENRAD’s house brand and three license deals
Design Eyewear Group is acquiring the MENRAD brand as part of the German eyewear group’s “unfortunate insolvency,” announced at the end of last month. The Danish-based group is also taking over three license agreements that MENRAD had with the Jaguar, JOOP! and Morgan brands. The four brands, for ...
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Lenskart prepares for IPO
Indian-based optical retailer Lenskart changed its registered name from Lenskart Solutions Private Limited to Lenskart Solutions Limited on May 30 during a special board meeting. According to several Indian business news outlets, the official name change will allow the company to launch its initial public offering. However, no detailed schedule ...
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EssilorLuxottica issues €1bn bond
EssilorLuxottica successfully launched a bond issuance for €1 billion yesterday, with the order book peaking at €2.5 billion and attracting quality institutional investors, the group said. The bond, which will mature in January 2030, carries a coupon of 2.625 percent with a yield of 2.76 percent. The group said that ...
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ArticleAerial Vision invests in 'plug-and-play' eyewear e-commerce startup
GoHub, an Israeli-based tech startup aiming to open the online optical market to more retail players, is joining forces with AVI. The tech-and-logistics partnership is boosting GoHub’s offering and reach.
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Topcon Healthcare invests in AI health tech company
Topcon Healthcare is making a strategic investment in Pangaea Data, a health tech and artificial intelligence (AI) company specializing in the automatic identification of untreated or under-treated patients for health care practitioners. Pangea Data operates offices in San Francisco, London and Hong Kong. The company’s platform, already deployed in several ...
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Inspecs founder to step down from the company’s board
Inspecs Group has announced that Robin Totterman will step down from his role as executive chairman at the company’s annual general meeting on June 3. Christopher Hancock, the group’s senior independent director will take over the role until a new non-executive chairman is appointed, no later than the end of ...
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ArticleMenrad Germany to close after over 125 years of business
Insolvency proceedings for the assets of Ferdinand Menrad GmbH + Go. KG started at the end of May, appointed administrator PLUTA Rechtanwalts announced in a press release yesterday, adding that it was currently in negotiations with several companies that have expressed interest in Menrad’s trademark rights and, in one case, ...
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British DTC eyewear brand raises £3m to support international expansion
Bloobloom – a UK-based brand of “designer eyewear at a fair price,” by its own description – has raised £3.0 million (€3.6m) in a second funding round with Pembroke VCT, a London-based investment fund, as main investor. Pembroke accounted for over half of a £4.8 million (€5.8m) round in 2022. ...
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Mister Spex CEO buys €100,000 worth of company shares
Mister Spex announced last week that Tobias Krauss, its recently appointed CEO, has purchased 70,000 shares of the company for a value of approximately €100,000. Krauss is underscoring his long-term confidence in the strategic direction and growth potential of Mister Spex with this share purchase, the company said. As ...
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ArticleHakim Group gets more private equity support
Hakim Group, a leading player in the UK and Ireland’s optical distribution channel, has announced that ICG, a global private equity firm with over $110 billion in managed assets, was joining the business as an additional investment partner. The raised funds, the amount of which was not disclosed, will support ...
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ArticleGoogle kicks off smart glasses platform with multiple eyewear partnerships, including investment in Warby Parker
“As you know, we have been building glasses for over ten years. And we have never stopped,” said Shahram Izadi, Vice President and General Manager of Google’s Android XR unit, at the group’s I/O developers conference yesterday before opening its smart glasses presentation. The introductory remark was probably meant to ...
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News briefsTopcon invests in Eye-Go
Topcon Healthcare has invested in a Danish medical-tech company called Eye-Go and is helping it to develop a product called MistGo Digital, to be incorporated into Topcon’s Harmony digital health platform. Neither company has disclosed any figures. Source: Eye-Go Eye-Go’s MistGo device. The original MistGo is a ...
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ArticleInspecs Group rejects shareholder proposal to replace Robin Totterman as company director
In a regulatory news update, Inspecs Group announced yesterday that it has received a requisition notice by Downing, a private equity firm and its third largest shareholder, requesting a shareholders vote on the removal of Robin Totterman as a director of the company as well as the appointment of Rocco ...
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ArticleEssilorLuxottica to increase its lens capacity in France by 40% with new industrial site
French President Emmanuel Macron inaugurated yesterday EssilorLuxottica’s Excellence Rx Laboratory, or Labex according to the group’s terminology, a new industrial facility located in Wissous, in the suburbs of Paris and close to the company’s Innovation & Technology Center in Créteil. EssilorLuxottica stressed that the laboratory, which spreads over 16,000 square ...
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ArticleEssilorLuxottica to turn eyewear into a service platform and frames into ‘wearables real estate,’ shareholders hear
In the company’s annual shareholders meeting, Chairman and CEO Francisco Milleri detailed how Essilux is progressively shifting from a hardware-oriented to a service-oriented business centered on AI and medtech. More acquisitions in the AI, chips design and eye surgery sectors are into the group’s deals pipe for 2025 and 2026. The company is taking a cautious approach to US tariffs supply chain adjustments.
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ArticleAmazon-backed autofocus glasses startup raises $36m, aims for distribution in the ECP channel
The raised capital will enable IXI to continue its product development and to kickoff its commercial operations. The strategy is to distribute primarily through the optical retail channel. The company is looking to disrupt the market with its technology aimed at replacing progressive lenses.
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Safilo pursues share buy-back program with future investments in mind
Along with the approval by its shareholders of its financial statements as of Dec. 31, 2024, Safilo Group has announced that the shareholders of its Safilo SpA subsidiary have authorized the purchase and disposal of up to 15 million ordinary shares, corresponding to approximately 3.6 percent of the company’s outstanding ...
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ArticleAntitrust suit threatens Meta’s revenues, perhaps R&D
After more than four years, the US FTC has gotten Meta into court.
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Innovative Eyewear eyes European market, exercises warrants for $1.8m proceeds
Innovative Eyewear has announced its intention to appoint a European distributor for its Lucyd Armor smart safety glasses, which have obtained the EU EN 166:2002 safety certification for workplace use. The company plans to enhance its Lucyd Armor range with sunglass and prescription versions later this year. It has also ...
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Essilux’ number of shareholding employees keeps rising
EssilorLuxottica has announced that its number of shareholding employees rose to 97,000 in 2024 from 83,500 in the previous year following record-breaking investments in the group’s international shareholding plan and the French PPE that respectively raised €190 million and €33 million. The number of employees who joined Valoptec, the association ...
