Lenskart's launches Vision Fund for select startups in eye-care space

To invest $2 million in each enterprise, nurture innovations disrupting eyewear, eye-care and omni-channel retail

Omni-channel D2C eyewear brand Lenskart has announced plans to invest up to $2 million each in startups that are synergistic to the eyewear, eye-care and omni-channel retail sectors. The fund has a corpus of $20 million.

Apart from capital infusion, Lenskart would be providing the enterprises market access via 700-plus retail stores and online channels across India, Singapore, Middle-East and the US, the company said in a press release.

The release said access to Lenskart’s vertically integrated supply chain, technology stack for facilitating omni-channel retail, and tech expertise in building futuristic technologies for eyewear will provide select startups the right ecosystem to build consumer centric, technology-led, disruptive products and services.

That apart, the senior leadership team at Lenskart will mentor the enterprises to navigate challenges during the early phase of business building.

Speaking on the launch, Peyush Bansal, founder and CEO of Lenskart said “We have traversed the challenging journey as a startup to become a unicorn. We believe it’s time to give back to the ecosystem and support exceptional entrepreneurs by helping them build scalable enterprises.”

Since the initiative is designed to help startups scale, Lenskart will select early-growth stage ventures with clear in-market evidence of traction and customer adoption.

Focus sectors for investing include D2C eyewear and eye care brands, technologies enabling access to vision care, eye testing technologies, omni-channel retail solutions across logistics, supply chain, merchandising, marketing, in-store automation and deep tech solutions for eyewear, retail and e-commerce.