Innovative Eyewear is offering common equity at a pre-money valuation of $20 million. This valuation is a steep increase from the previous raise that just ended three months prior to this raise, which was $3.8 million. This valuation change is presumably due to the company’s new social media app, Vyrb, but the app is still under development. Innovative Eyewear has failed to show significant enough growth to justify its valuation increase. Based on its 2020 revenue, it has a 432-times valuation revenue multiple, which seems very overvalued — especially for a consumer product. Thus, Innovative Eyewear’s price score is the lowest across all metrics.

In 2020, the global smart glasses market was worth $69.1 million and had a compound annual growth rate of 15%. North America has a dominant market share of 61%. The market is growing at a rapid pace, but the overall market is small. It is uncertain whether there is enough demand for Innovative Eyewear’s product type in order for the company to be successful. Therefore, Innovative Eyewear’s market score is below average.

Harrison Gross is Innovative Eyewear’s co-founder, director, and CEO. He had a formal education in Jewish studies and creative writing from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and Columbia University respectively. He was previously a founder, editor, and publisher at Sphirah, an independent publishing label of literature and music. After that, he was a digital media manager at Tekcapital plc, where he was in charge of marketing, copywriting and social media. Gross co-founded the Lucyd brand in 2017, which later became Innovative Eyewear. Gross’ experience in marketing and branding can be valuable for Innovative Eyewear, as it’s focusing on developing a social media app. But overall, Gross’s past experiences do not seem particularly relevant to his current industry.

David Eric Cohen serves as Innovative Eyewear’s co-founder and CTO. He holds a bachelor’s degree in data modeling/warehousing and database administration from Hadassah Academic College. Cohen also received a master’s degree in the same major from the Jerusalem College of Technology. Cohen co-founded the Lucyd brand in 2017, where he was in charge of software. Prior to this, he worked in business intelligence at Montreal Jewish General Hospital and Brightstar Corp. He was also a president at Emaze Design Agency, where he gave consultations mainly for web design. Given Cohen’s profound experience in web development, he seems like a perfect fit for his position at Innovative Eyewear. 

Konrad Dabrowski is Innovative Eyewear’s co-founder, CFO, and acting secretary. At the same time, he also serves as CFO at Tekcapital plc. He holds a master’s degree in finance and banking from the Warsaw School of Economics. He was also a part of Lucyd’s original team, serving as the finance director. Previously, he was an audit manager at Deloitte and a global accounting manager at Restaurant Brands International. Although his extensive finance background is certainly useful to Innovative Eyewear, his other obligations suggest a lack of dedication to the company.

There are currently six other members of the Innovative Eyewear team, including a vice president of sales, a graphic designer, and a content manager. But the team lacks software developers. This is crucial, especially since the company’s main focus is to develop its Vyrb app. Overall, Innovative Eyewear’s team score is just above average.

There are numerous players in the audio glasses market already, including big brands like Bose. Innovative Eyewear has some advantages over Bose, such as a more fashionable design, cheaper price, compact size, and prescription lenses. But competitor Vue Glasses offers the same features, which shows Innovative Eyewear’s features are not difficult to replicate. Innovative Eyewear’s Vyrb app could be a key advantage, as few smart glasses companies also develop social media apps. However, since Vyrb is still under development, its success cannot be guaranteed. 

Innovative Eyewear has a strong patent portfolio for its audio quality. It has three utility patents (one granted and two pending) and 21 design patents (13 granted and eight pending). Although the Lucyd brand was founded in 2017, it only launched in January of 2021. This seems to indicate a great deal of focus on product development, which may bode well for the company in the long run. Overall, Innovative Eyewear scores above average in the differentiation metric.

Innovative Eyewear was only able to generate around $46,000 in revenue in 2020. However, it is important to keep in mind that its first mass-market audio glasses only launched in January 2021. Since then, Innovative Eyewear has been growing quickly. It has sold more than 2,500 glasses through its own website as well as through distribution channels such as Amazon and D. Landstrom. D. Landstrom distributes to big box stores like Walmart, Best Buy, and Target. Innovative Eyewear has received positive feedback from its users in the form of 200 five-star ratings. 

Innovative Eyewear has also successfully secured partnerships with multiple social media influencers who have a significant amount of followers. A couple notable ones are professional golfer Chris Clark and musical artist Hadar Adora. These partnerships could play a huge role in boosting the company’s brand and acquiring more customers. Innovative Eyewear also secured $1.8 million in prior investment rounds, which indicates the founding team is more than capable of raising money. That’s essential for a startup’s survival. Additionally, Innovative Eyewear has a reasonable monthly burn rate ($32,000) for a technology hardware company. It also has little debt. For these reasons, the company has a nearly perfect performance score.

All things taken together, Innovative Eyewear has a low risk profile. The only elevated risks investors should be aware of is the company’s expensive valuation and high revenue multiple. This creates a significant investment risk because it might limit investors’ potential returns in the event of a future exit.

Investors may be concerned that Innovative Eyewear’s market opportunity is tiny. The company’s lack of significant differentiation could also hinder its future growth. The company’s new social media app, Vyrb, could be Innovative Eyewear’s key advantage over competitors. However, Vyrb’s success is uncertain since it’s still under development. Although the team is fairly strong, the company needs to expand its team to include people with software development skills in order to speed up the development of Vyrb. Investors should also take note of the company’s inflated valuation.

Innovative Eyewear holds multiple patents that make its product somewhat defensible. Its social media app, Vyrb, is still in development. But if it’s successful, it could give Innovative Eyewear a major advantage over its competitors. Its audio glasses are reasonably priced compared to its competitors, and they’ve received 200 five-star reviews so far. The company has also achieved undeniably impressive traction that is supported by its influencer partners, who could expand Innovative Eyewear’s brand to an even larger base of customers. If Innovative Eyewear can keep expanding its network of influencers, it could be the main driver for both acquiring new customers and establishing customer loyalty.

Innovative Eyewear sells bluetooth audio glasses that enable users to listen to music, talk on the phone, and use voice assistants to perform smartphone functions hands-free.

Innovative Eyewear has a significantly high valuation and valuation revenue multiple. The company operates in a rather small market, but the market is growing rapidly. The company’s team is fairly strong, but it needs to scale in order to speed up its product development for a stronger competitive advantage. Although its product has its upsides, it still lacks a distinctive feature that can set it apart from numerous existing competitors. The company holds multiple patents that can make its product defensible. It has also achieved undeniably impressive traction. All in all, Innovative Eyewear is a Neutral Deal. 

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Analysis written by Inez Sanjaya.