Lentesplus

About Lentesplus

Lentesplus operates as an e-commerce platform specializing in the visual health sector across Latin America, targeting a market estimated at $11 billion. The company was founded in 2013 by Diego Mariño and Jaime Oriol Miranda, who met while studying for their MBAs at Wharton. Mariño's personal frustrations with the high costs and long delivery times for contact lenses in his native Colombia inspired the venture. He and Oriol established a digital solution to offer contact lenses at lower prices with shorter delivery times. The business model is centered on the online retail of visual health products, including contact lenses, prescription glasses, sunglasses, and eye care solutions like drops and multipurpose solutions. Revenue is generated directly from the sale of these products through its e-commerce websites.

Headquartered in Bogota, Colombia, the company initially launched in Colombia and expanded to Mexico a month later. It now operates in Chile and Argentina as well. A significant milestone in its expansion was the acquisition of Newlentes, a leading independent online contact lens retailer in Brazil, which effectively doubled the company's addressable market. Following this, Lentesplus also acquired LIVO, a Brazilian eyewear company, to accelerate its move into the glasses market and develop an omnichannel strategy. This strategy includes plans to open 600 physical stores over the next four years and transition the brand to the LIVO name to leverage its strength in Brazil. The company serves both individual consumers and also supplies products to approximately 1,200 opticians in the region. By the end of 2021, Lentesplus had an active customer base of 375,000, having dispatched over 600,000 contact lens boxes that year.

Lentesplus's product offerings include a wide variety of contact lenses for conditions such as myopia, hyperopia, presbyopia, and astigmatism from major laboratories like Johnson & Johnson, Alcon, Bausch + Lomb, and CooperVision. Customers can purchase daily, monthly, bi-weekly, or annual lenses. The platform also features a selection of glasses, eye drops, and other ophthalmic solutions. To enhance the customer experience, the company provides personalized advice through its website and has a team of visual health professionals available for consultation. Unique selling points include a loyalty program called PlusUp, where customers accumulate redeemable points with each purchase, and a 'Re-Compra' program for automatic recurring deliveries. The company has secured significant funding, raising a total of $14.2 million over five rounds, with the latest Series A round in December 2021 bringing in $8.12 million from investors such as DG Ventures, Empire Group Holdings, and Palm Drive Capital.