Over-the-Rhine startup Frameri stops taking orders and dissolves, a victim of fizzling funding

Sam Pellerito, the CEO of local startup Frameri, spent time edging eyeglass lenses in a friend's basement, fulfilling orders for the company's last customers. It's ironic, he said, because it's what he did when he joined Frameri in 2013. "I was the one making the glasses every day, and that's how I'm ending with the company," he said.  Known for its interchangeable lenses and frames, Frameri was one of the Tri-State region's most widely known startups, having gained notoriety from being featured in a 2015 episode of ABC-TV's "Shark Tank." But as WCPO previously reported, the company closed its Over-the-Rhine store in January 2018, and is no longer taking orders at its website. What happened? The company simply couldn't raise enough money from investors to keep growing, Pellerito said. "We were not bulletproof to the idea that if you don't have the right amount of runway, you will eventually run out of money," he said.