NextShark backs Journey Optics, a sunglasses brand designed for Asian faces
What's the deal? NextShark, an Asian American media platform reaching over 100 million people monthly, has taken an equity stake in Journey Optics — a startup making performance sunglasses engineered for people with low nose bridges. The investment came through NextShark Ventures, the company's venture arm focused on culturally aligned consumer brands.
Journey Optics was founded by Bryan Tarn, a former tech sales professional, after he grew frustrated with sunglasses that wouldn't stay on his face during a mountain biking trip. He tested products from major brands, found no real solution, and started building his own.
The result: a line of performance sunglasses with interchangeable nose pads and frames designed from the ground up for low bridge fit — not adapted from traditional Western moulds.
Why now? Journey Optics enters a growing category of products designed specifically for Asian consumers, addressing long-standing gaps in industries that have historically ignored differences in facial structure. NextShark sees culturally specific problems as a pathway to breakout consumer brands.
"Journey Optics is the rarest kind of brand for us to invest in since their product literally only exists because of the Asian experience," said Benny Luo, founder and chief executive officer of NextShark. "For years, we've seen products built without our community in mind."
Tarn added: "This isn't just about eyewear — it's about representation in product design."
What could go wrong? The eyewear market is fiercely competitive, dominated by conglomerates like EssilorLuxotticaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. Scaling a niche brand beyond its core community is difficult, and low bridge fit remains a relatively small segment. Journey Optics will need strong brand loyalty and distribution to carve out meaningful market share.
The signal: NextShark's move from media platform to active investor mirrors a wider pattern of audience-first companies using their reach to de-risk consumer brand bets. Journey Optics faces a formidable incumbent in EssilorLuxottica, a mature-stage conglomerate that dominates global eyewear, but its niche positioning sidesteps direct competition by targeting a segment the giants have largely ignored. Whether culturally specific product design can translate into a scalable business will be the real test.
Read more: nextshark.com
