Warby Parker

Warby Parker designs and sells prescription eyeglasses, sunglasses and contact lenses, and offers eye exams, through its website and a fleet of retail stores. It was founded in February 2010 in Philadelphia by Neil Blumenthal, Andrew Hunt, David Gilboa and Jeffrey Raider, and is headquartered in New York City. The company started as an online retailer, then expanded into physical retail; it opened 47 net new stores in 2025 and ended the year with 323 locations and about 4,000 employees.

The company's first capital was a $2,500 award through Wharton's Venture Initiation Program in 2010. It raised a $2.5 million Series A in May 2011 and a $12.5 million round in September 2011; by 2012 its backers included Tiger Global Management, First Round Capital, Lerer Ventures, SV Angel, Menlo Ventures and Thrive Capital. In September 2012 General Catalyst Partners led a $36.8 million Series B and Joel Cutler joined the board alongside Lee Fixel of Tiger Global. American Express and J.Crew chief Mickey Drexler invested $4 million in February 2013. T. Rowe Price led a $100 million round in April 2015 at a $1.2 billion valuation, a $75 million Series E followed in March 2018, and in August 2020 D1 Capital Partners, Durable Capital Partners, T. Rowe Price and Baillie Gifford invested $245 million across Series F and G at a $3 billion valuation, bringing total funding above $535 million.

Warby Parker went public through a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange on September 29, 2021 under the ticker WRBY, raising no new capital. Against a $40 reference price, shares opened at $54.05 and closed at $54.29, valuing the company at about $6 billion. Its listing documents showed Tiger Global (17.5%), T. Rowe Price (17.3%), General Catalyst (12.7%), D1 Capital Partners (9.1%) and Durable Capital (6.6%) as its largest outside holders. For 2025 the company reported net revenue of $871.9 million, up 13%, and net income of $1.6 million, its first full year of profitability, and it guided to $959 million to $976 million of 2026 revenue with 50 new stores planned.

Warby Parker shows a consumer company that crossed from early stage venture to crossover capital before going public. Tiger Global and General Catalyst, which entered in 2011 and 2012, were still the first and third largest outside holders at the listing roughly a decade later, while T. Rowe Price, D1 and Durable bought in at the late private stage. The direct listing gave existing holders liquidity without a primary raise or the usual lockup structure.