eyewa.

Buying a pair of glasses in the Gulf once meant a slow trip through a dozen scattered opticians, a haze of markups, and little clarity on what you were actually paying for. In 2017, two former Bain & Company consultants who had spent their whole lives squinting at the world decided that was a problem worth their careers. Anass Boumediene and Mehdi Oudghiri launched eyewa - a straightforward online store for prescription glasses, sunglasses and contact lenses aimed at the Middle East.

Seven years later, that frustration is a business with roughly 150 wholly-owned stores, more than five million orders behind it, and a $100 million cheque from one of the world's best-known growth investors. eyewa is now widely described as the largest eyewear retailer in Saudi Arabia by store count and the region's leading omnichannel eyewear hub.

The pivot that made the difference was quiet but decisive. eyewa started by reselling other companies' frames. It ended up building its own. Today, by the company's own account, about 96% of revenue comes from brands eyewa created in-house - a level of vertical control that lets it keep prices low while holding on to margin.

At its simplest, eyewa sells the things people need to see and the things they wear to look good doing it: prescription eyeglasses, blue-light lenses, fashion and polarized sunglasses, and daily, monthly and colored contact lenses. It sells them through a website, a mobile app, and a physical store network spread across five Middle East markets in the GCC and wider MENA region.

Who its customers are

eyewa's shoppers are everyday, value-conscious consumers across the Gulf - people who want quality eyewear without the traditional premium. The company reports a large and repeat customer base and counts well over half a million followers on Instagram alone, a reflection of how much of its demand is generated through digital and social channels.

The problem it solves

The Middle East eyewear market was fragmented and overpriced, with buying spread thinly across independent opticians and little transparency on value. eyewa's answer was to consolidate demand online, design its own affordable frames, and remove the friction of shopping for something you normally have to try on - while keeping physical stores for the parts of eye care that genuinely need a human: eye exams and accurate fitting.

eyewa runs a direct-to-consumer, omnichannel model. It designs eyewear, sells it under its own brands, and controls the path from website and app all the way to its own stores. That vertical integration is the engine behind its pricing: when you own the product, you own the margin, and you can pass savings to customers without giving up the economics.

Regional optical is a crowded field. Established chains like Magrabi and Al Jaber Optical hold the premium and clinical end; countless independent opticians hold the neighborhoods; and global online players such as Lenskart are eyeing the same Gulf demand. eyewa's separation comes from three things stacked together.

1. It owns its brands

Most retailers stock other people's products. eyewa builds its own, which is why it can be both affordable and profitable rather than choosing one.

2. It's genuinely omnichannel

The app handles discovery and virtual try-on; the stores handle exams, fittings and trust. Neither pure e-commerce nor pure retail on its own delivers that full loop.

3. It's tech-forward in a traditional category

AI-powered try-on and a data-driven approach to merchandising put it closer to a technology company than a classic optician - an advantage in a market that is still largely offline.

Where does it fit in the market? Squarely as the category leader for accessible eyewear in the GCC - the default digital-first option for millions of shoppers who once had none.