Sept. 30, 2020 — Global investment firm KKR will acquire 1-800 Contacts from AEA Investors, which purchased the direct-to-consumer vision brand in 2016. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“1-800 Contacts is a customer-centric, technology-enabled business that is bringing more convenience to the optical space,” says Felix Gernburd, KKR managing director. “We are excited to invest behind [1-800 Contacts CEO John Graham] and his world-class team.”
1-800 Contacts has expanded its offerings in the past few years, including acquiring vision technology startup 6over6 in late 2019 and launching new app-based offerings, including ExpressExam, which enables consumers to renew contact lens prescriptions online. The company’s sister brand, Liingo Eyewear, also introduced Rx Reader, an app, which the company states extracts optical parameters from a pair of prescription glasses.
According to 1-800 Contacts, during the peak of the Covid-19 shutdown, the company experienced a 100% year-over-year increase in new and returning customers. During that period, usage of the ExpressExam app also increased 200% and the Rx Reader app experienced a 700% increase in monthly active users.