Neil Blumenthal

Neil Blumenthal is the co-founder and co-CEO of Warby Parker, a direct-to-consumer eyewear brand that grew from a Wharton business school project into a public company. Under his leadership, Warby Parker opened 275 stores, served 2.28 million customers and distributed over 20 million pairs of glasses through its Buy a Pair, Give a Pair program.

Blumenthal earned his bachelor of arts degree at Tufts University and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. At Wharton, he met co-founders Dave Gilboa, Andrew Hunt, and Jeffrey Raider, and together they set out to build an eyewear company that combined design, social impact, and direct-to-consumer pricing.

Before business school, Blumenthal worked as director of VisionSpring, a nonprofit focused on affordable eyeglasses for underserved populations. That experience shaped the social mission at the heart of Warby Parker.

The founders launched Warby Parker in February 2010 with a $2,500 seed investment from the Wharton Venture Initiation Program. They shipped their first 100,000 pairs in 2011 and appeared in Vogue that same month. By end of 2012, the company had raised $37 million and grown to roughly 100 employees.

Warby Parker reached a $1.2 billion valuation in 2015, opened a $16 million optical lab in 2017, and went public on the NYSE in September 2021 via direct listing. In May 2025, Google announced a partnership with Warby Parker to develop AI-powered smart glasses, investing up to $150 million.