Lapaire, a pan-African eyecare firm, has raised US$3 million in equity funding to help it expand across Africa.
Jérôme Lapaire, a Swiss native who moved to Kenya in 2015, and launched Lapaire in 2018. Despite having a law degree, he began looking into business ventures he could pursue while residing in Nairobi because he was passionate about entrepreneurship.
Using a customer-focused one-stop-shop approach, Lapaire has been providing dependable and easily accessible eyecare services by providing fashionable, high-quality eyeglasses at fair pricing. The company has tested over 300,000 people’s eyesight since its inception, greatly enhancing the lives of 180,000 of them, and currently employs 350 people.
Lapaire was founded in Kenya, but it now has operations in six nations: Uganda, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, and Mali. Additionally, prospective clients can take advantage of complimentary eye exams at any of its 58 eye care clinics in these countries.
While it started out using a B2B sales strategy, it has recently discarded that technique in favor of having direct contact with the customer.
With an aim of opening 80 new facilities by 2024, the plan is to establish 300 eye care centres over the next two years.
By 2026, Lapaire stated in a statement, “Over the last few years, we worked hard to build a highly scalable model, and we are now in the best position to accelerate our growth to positively impact the lives of 1 million people across the continent.
With the funding it recently raised, Lapaire intends to expand into other markets as well as deepen its presence in the current markets.
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