The brand, Project Lobster, has closed a round of financing worth two million euros. This operation has been led by Dozen Investments, an online investment platform for startups through which the company’s community has been able to collaborate on it. It is also noteworthy the entry of new partners such as family offices and business angels and that the current partners have made follow-on.
For its part, Avançsa, a public entity linked to the Generalitat de Catalunya in charge of promoting the Catalan business ecosystem through public-private collaboration, has also participated in the operation.
Oscar Valledor, founder and CEO of Project Lobster, has noted that “The goal for this year is to consolidate our brand in Spain, so we are going to allocate most of the funds to open new physical spaces, as well as continue innovating in vision care through the development of proprietary technology”.
The company plans to strengthen its presence in the cities where it already operates, Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia, and to start opening stores in new ones, with the aim of closing the year having doubled the number of its own opticians.
Despite its ambitious expansion plan, the company’s growth approach is healthy and moderate, since the focus is set on profitability. “At Project Lobster we prefer to do things right first and then fast. We have an obsession with growing sustainably, which is why all the new spaces we open are profitable practically from day one, and we are going to work to keep it that way with the new openings”Valledor points out.
With the new capital injection, the firm also plans to accompany the opening of stores with an increase in the workforce, currently made up of 40 professionals, especially with the hiring of vision professionals. As Valledor points out, “We seek to become the leaders in contemporary vision care through our 360º services. That’s why, it is essential for us that the experience is memorable, consistent and excellent, and that comes from working with a top-level human team. To offer a service of the highest quality, we have to work with the best in the industry.”
Since its launch five years ago until today, Project Lobster has managed to bill more than five million euros and add more than 20,000 customers. The company started with an initial investment of 40,000 euros, entered the Juan Roig Shuttle acceleration program and in its first round of investment managed to raise 300,000 euros. Currently, the brand has 5 stores spread between Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia, all of them profitable. This 2023, the startup plans to increase its turnover by 50%, reaching 10 stores and exceed 30,000 active customers.
