Premji Invest backs Lenskart, expands retail portfolio

Investment from Premji comes after Lenskart raised Rs 400 crore in funding in May led by International Finance Corporation, the venture capital arm of World Bank

Wipro Chairman Azim Premji's family office, Premji Invest, has made its latest bet on retail with an investment in eyewear retailer Lenskart, one among the first e-commerce companies out of India to explore the offline sales route.

The investment from Premji comes after Lenskart raised Rs 400 crore in funding back in May led by International Finance Corporation, the venture capital arm of World Bank. The financials of the latest transaction was not disclosed.

"With this collaboration, the company will be able to draw on Premji Invest's extensive experience, particularly in retail and creating long lasting brands to realize its potential and develop best practices," said Peyush Bansal, founder and CEO of Lenskart, in a statement.

Lenskart sells over 150,000 spectacles a month, making it the third largest eyewear retailers in the country after Tata Group-owned Titan Eye and Reliance's Vision Express. While Titan has close to 400 eyewear outlets across the country, Lenskart has around 100 stores across 66 cities.

Today Lenskart signs up offline stores as franchisee partners, further pushing for a 'try offline, buy online' mantra in the e-commerce sector today. The company also has a 'try at home' service for online buyers which it says has helped reduce returns (one of the biggest cash burners in e-commerce) significantly. It also has built a vertically integrated business that manufactures lenses to frames locally at its factories, thereby significantly reducing costs that helps the brand become competitive against local stores.

Since 2006, Premji Invest is managing over $1 billion of assets in Indian companies, both public and privately firms. It has previously backed retail ventures such as Snapdeal, FabIndia, Myntra, Future Lifestyle Fashions and Vasmolin. Myntra is now owned by Flipkart, India's largest online e-commerce company.

Not all of Premji Invest's bets have been successful. It suffered loss in Subhiksha, the Chennai-based offline retailer, which it had invested Rs 230 crore in 2008 after the company went bust.

While the investment in Lenskart will help the eyewear retailer further grow its business, Premji Invest's being an investor would give it access to best practices from a company that has significant experience in retail business. Lenskart also counts as its investors TPG Growth, IDG Ventures, Unilazer Ventures and Adveq.