Neso Brands names Paulo Almeida as CTO

Swedish-led, Singapore-based eyewear house Neso Brands, backed by omnichannel eyewear unicorn Lenskart and its investors, including KKR and Softbank, has appointed Paulo Almeida as its chief technology officer.

Almeida, an authority on omnichannel retail, will be responsible for spearheading the overall technical vision and strategy of Neso Brands. He will draw from his expertise in e-commerce, fintech, and artificial intelligence, most notably from his previous role as senior vice president of engineering at Southeast Asian fashion retail giant Pomelo Fashion, where he led the company's tech strategy and execution from seed to Series D.

Bjorn Bergstrom, chief executive and co-founder of Neso Brands, said in a statement: “As a company with a strong belief in the power of technological disruption and the growing importance of omnichannel retail, we are delighted to be joined by Paulo.

“The eyewear industry is at a crossroads and Neso Brands is in a unique position to take advantage of this. By combining our increasingly broad pool of world-class technology experts, now led by Paulo, with Lenskart’s resources and supply chain we can scale the eyewear brands of the future.”

Commenting on his new role, Almeida added: “Joining Neso Brands as chief technology officer is truly exciting. Technological advancements, particularly in AI and sensor technology, have such a vast potential to reinvent many aspects of the eyewear sector; whether that be the design phase, manufacturing or customer experience. I look forward to seizing this tremendous opportunity in revolutionizing the entire eyewear market.”

In addition, Neso Brands has also onboarded several key members of Y Combinator fintech GoDutch, ranging from engineers, designers, and product managers, as well as the start-up’s co-founders, Riyaz Khan and Aniruddh Singh. At GoDutch, Khan and Singh quickly grew the app to more than 2 million users to make it one of the leading fintech apps in South Asia, and at Neso Brands, they will oversee product and growth, respectively.

These appointments follow a slew of business moves from Neso Brands since the company’s founding by Swedish-born Bjorn Bergstrom last year. Since then, alongside Lenskart, Neso Brands has invested in a range of brands and companies, including advanced retail analytics companies TangoEye and GeoIQ and acquired Japanese eyewear brand Owndays, which operates over 500 locations in 13 markets across APAC and MENA.