 "Lenskart")
ChrysCapital, a private equity firm, will invest $100 million in Lenskart, Asia’s largest eyewear brand, through primary and secondary share purchases. The investment brings Lenskart's total capital infusion to nearly $850 million since 2022.
Lenskart’s $4.2 billion valuation is unchanged from last year’s funding round, according to the sources. The company in March raised $500 million from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, an extension to the fund it raised last year.
Of the $600 million Lenskart has raised this year, $450 million came from secondary share sales, which gave partial exits to SoftBank Vision Fund, Chiratae Ventures and PremjiInvest, according to media platform The Arc.
ChrysCapital’s investment will support Lenskart's business plans and strengthen its position as a global eyewear leader.
“Incidences of myopia are rapidly growing globally, especially in Asia, including India, with big unsolved problems of access, affordability, and awareness,” said Peyush Bansal, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Lenskart. “We believe that with the help of technology, customer centricity, and big investments in supply chain and talent, we can eradicate the problem of vision correction.”
"Lenskart has been instrumental in developing the (eyewear) market. With the acquisition of Owndays, there is an opportunity for Lenskart to expand across over 10 Asian countries in addition to the already large Indian market,” said Rajiv Batra, senior vice president at ChrysCapital Advisors.
ChrysCapital has invested in Indian start-ups Dream11, Xpressbees and FirstCry.
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“Eyewear as a lifestyle category is at a very early stage in its evolution, and there is a lot of opportunity to make glasses that can uplift our quality of life significantly as seen in shoes, apparel, and watches,” said Bansal.
The new investment in Lenskart has come at a time when start-ups are under stress and are laying off employees. As many as 58 per cent of founders of Indian start-ups expect fundraising to become tougher in 2023 and hiring muted, according to InnoVen’s ‘India Startup Outlook Report’. Only 53 per cent of founders had a positive experience while trying to raise funds last year compared to 92 per cent in 2021.
Lenskart has 20 million customers and it is expanding in India and Asia. The company’s consolidated revenue from operations grew 66 per cent to Rs 1,502 crore in FY22, compared to Rs 905 crore last year. The SoftBank-backed company reported losses of Rs 102 crore in FY22 after reporting a profit of Rs 28 crore in the previous financial year, according to data accessed by business intelligence platform, Tofler.
Lenskart was founded by Peyush Bansal, a former Microsoft employee, in 2010 along with co-founders Amit Chaudhary and Sumeet Kapahi. It has raised $1.56 billion in more than 20 funding rounds since 2010, according to the data platform Tracxn. It is backed by investors such as TPG, KKR, Temasek and SoftBank.
