A new cut-price online contact lens brand has been launched in the US this week called Hubble.
Hubble has raised $7.2m in funding from various investors including Brian Levy, a former chief medical officer of Bausch and Lomb. The hydrogel daily lenses were available in powers ranging from -0.75 to -8.00.
It claimed to be the country’s first direct-to-consumer contact lens brand, manufactured in Taiwan. Hubble was available at half the normal price ‘by cutting out mark-ups from intermediaries’ and offering subscriptions to patients, while those needing an eye exam were shown to a network of available practices via the Hubble website.
Ben Cogan, co-founder and co-CEO of Hubble, said many contact lens wearers were being forced to overspend on contact lenses. He hoped the lenses, costing around $30 (£25) per month would disrupt the market in the same way optical retailer Warby Parker had, and a UK launch was not ruled out.
‘When we looked at the market and discovered that there were no direct-to-consumer prescription services for contact lenses in the US, a light bulb went off. Much of the profit in this industry comes from intermediary markups, and not only is that hurting consumers’ pockets, ultimately, it’s really unhealthy for their eyes too. When people are forced to pay exorbitant markups on a product intended to benefit their vision, many of them actually end up sacrificing their eye health by over-wearing expensive lenses so that they don’t have to regularly purchase more.’
Cogan is a former senior customer insights associate at direct-to-consumer razor brand Harry’s. He has started up Hubble with friend and now co-CEO Jesse Horwitz.
‘We did several months of diligence work and found an FDA-approved manufacturer [St. Shine Optical] where we could get private label lenses. With this new partner, we knew that we could make the trip from manufacturer to consumer much shorter and much more affordable,’ added Horwitz.