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Warby Parker doubles Md. presence with 2 new retail locations
Listen to this articleWarby Parker, a retailer of prescription glasses and sunglasses based in New York City, doubled its presence in Maryland with new locations in Columbia and Towson.
The company opened its third location at the Mall in Columbia at 10300 Little Patuxent Pkwy. Jan. 30 and fourth Feb. 6 in Towson Town Center at 825 Dulaney Valley Road. They join existing Warby Parker locations in Bethesda at Bethesday Row (4821 Bethesda Ave.) and Baltimore at Harbor East (807 Aliceanna St.)
The company was founded in 2010 in Philadelphia by Neil Blumenthal, Andrew Hunt, David Gilboa, and Jeffrey Raider. It was started in the Venture Initiation Program of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where the founders all studied.
The company received $2,500 seed investment through the program and launched in February 2010.
In May 2011, Warby Parker raised its first round of funding totaling $2.5 million. In September 2011, the company raised a Series A round of $12.5 million. In fall 2012, it raised a $37 million Series B round,[7] with an additional $4 million announced in February 2013 with investors American Express and Mickey Drexler.
In 2011, Warby Parker shipped more than 100,000 pairs of glasses and had 60 employees. By the end of 2012, the company had grown to around 100 employees. As of April 2015, the company was valued at $1.2 billion.
