Misplaced Pages

Lenskart

Article snapshot taken from[REDACTED] with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Indian eyewear retail company

Lenskart
[REDACTED]
Company typePrivate
Industry
Founded2010; 15 years ago (2010)
Founders
HeadquartersGurugram, Haryana, India
Number of locations2,000+ retail stores (2022)
Area served
Key peoplePeyush Bansal (Chairman, MD & CEO)
BrandsJohn Jacobs
RevenueIncrease ₹5,428 crore (US$630 million) (FY24)
Operating incomeIncrease ₹856 crore (US$99 million) (FY24)
Net incomePositive decrease ₹−10 crore (US$−1.2 million) (FY24)
Number of employees5,000+ (2020)
Subsidiaries
  • Owndays
  • Neso Brands
Websitelenskart.com

Lenskart is an Indian multinational eyewear company, based in Gurugram. As a vertically integrated company, it designs, manufactures, distributes, and retails prescription and regular eyewear. It sells its products through website, mobile app and 2,000+ physical stores

It has a manufacturing facility located in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan, with an annual production capacity of 5 crore glasses.

History

Peyush Bansal, a former Microsoft employee, founded Lenskart.com in 2010 along with Amit Chaudhary and Sumeet Kapahi. In 2011, early investor IDG Ventures India directed the company to also sell wristwatches, bags and jewellery online to replicate Titan Company's business. In 2011, the company launched Watchkart.com and Bagskart.com, and the following year, it started Jewelskart.com. By the end of 2014, only Lenskart.com remained operative as the company shut down its other three websites to focus on the eyewear segment.

Co-founder and CEO of Lenskart, Peyush Bansal

Lenskart launched the eyewear brand John Jacobs in 2017. In October 2017, Lenskart signed up its first brand ambassador Katrina Kaif. In 2018, the company became profitable, EBITDA positive. In March 2019, the company hired Bhuvan Bam as its first male brand ambassador.

In June 2022, Lenskart announced the acquisition of a majority stake in the Japanese eyewear brand Owndays in a cash-and-stock deal which valued Owndays at around US$400 million.

Funding

In 2011, IDG Ventures India invested $4 million in the company. In January 2015, the company raised ₹135 crore from TPG Growth, TR Capital and IDG Ventures India. In May 2016, International Finance Corporation, Adveq Management, TPG Growth and IDG Ventures India invested a total of $60 million in Lenskart. The company also saw investments from Ratan Tata and Kris Gopalakrishnan. In September 2016, Wipro's Chairman Azim Premji invested around ₹200 crore in Lenskart through his family office PremjiInvest.

Lenskart was valued at over $1 billion in December 2019 after SoftBank Vision Fund invested $275 million. In May 2021, KKR invested $95 million, and in July 2021, Temasek and Falcon Edge Capital (Alpha Wave Global) led a $220 million investment round at a valuation of $2.5 billion. In July 2022, Lenskart was valued at $4.5 billion following a $200 million funding round led by Alpha Wave Global.

In March 2023, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority invested $500 million in Lenskart at a valuation of $4.5 billion. In June 2023, the company raised $100 million from ChrysCapital.

In June 2024, Lenskart secured $200 million from Temasek and Fidelity in a secondary deal at $5 billion valuation.

References

  1. ^ "Lenskart may shift SE Asia manufacturing to India plant". mint. 29 August 2022. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  2. ^ Singh, Manish (15 March 2023). "ADIA invests $500 million in Lenskart". TechCrunch. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  3. ^ "Lenskart cuts loss by 84% in FY24, revenue up 43% to Rs 5,428 crore". The Economic Times. 6 November 2024. Retrieved 21 January 2025.
  4. "Lenskart-backed Neso Brands raises $100 million, appoints Bjorn Bergstrom CEO". Financial Express. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  5. "Lenskart plans to hire over 2,000 employees in India by next year". mint. 11 August 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  6. Poduwal, Sunanda (6 November 2011). "Peyush Bansal, founder of Lenskart in India, selling eyewear talks about his business journey". The Economic Times. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  7. "Valyoo Technologies raises $4M from IDG Ventures India". Reuters. 1 November 2011. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  8. "Adjust focus: How Peyush Bansal built Lenskart into a profitable unicorn". Forbes India. 19 September 2022. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  9. "After Lenskart, Watchkart & Bagskart, Valyoo Technologies' Jewelskart.com Goes Live". TechCircle. 16 February 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  10. "Lenskart's Peyush Bansal on new funding, why he shut down three other e-com sites & more". VCCircle. 8 January 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  11. PTI (13 January 2019). "John Jacobs to clock ₹500 cr revenue by March 2021". The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  12. PTI (4 February 2018). "Lenskart invests $4 million to expand John Jacobs brand stores". Livemint. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  13. "Lenskart ropes in Katrina Kaif as brand ambassador". Moneycontrol. 9 October 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  14. "Katrina Kaif is Lenskart's first-ever ambassador". The Economic Times. 10 October 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  15. Bali, Shinmin (4 November 2018). "Expansion Plan: Lenskart eyes 50% market share". The Financial Express. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  16. "Lenskart announces Bhuvan Bam as its new brand ambassador". Economic Times Brand Equity. 29 March 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  17. Singh, Manish (30 June 2022). "Lenskart acquires majority stake in eyewear brand Owndays in $400 million deal". TechCrunch. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
  18. "Updated: Lenskart Is Raising INR 135 Cr. From TPG, TR Capital & IDG In Series C". Inc42. 2 January 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  19. Sarkar, Ranju (23 May 2016). "How Lenskart is defying the start-up trend". Rediff. Business Standard. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  20. Chanchani, Madhav; Gooptu, Biswarup (7 September 2016). "PremjiInvest invests about Rs 200 crore in eyewear portal Lenskart". The Economic Times. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  21. "SoftBank Vision Fund invests $275M in India's Lenskart". TechCrunch. 20 December 2019.
  22. "Lenskart raises another $25 million in series I round; announces opening of 1,000th store in the country". Economic Times. 4 May 2022. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  23. Bhalla, Tarush (17 May 2021). "KKR invests $95 million in Lenskart". mint. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  24. Singh, Manish (19 July 2021). "Lenskart valued at $2.5 billion following $220 million investment from Temasek and Falcon Edge Capital". TechCrunch. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  25. Mishra, Digbijay (4 July 2022). "Lenskart valued at $4.5 billion after new financing". The Economic Times. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  26. "Lenskart raises $100-mn in funding from private equity firm ChrysCapital". Business Line. 15 June 2023. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  27. "Lenskart Secures $200 Million, Poised for Billionaire Dollar IPO". Bru Times News.
  28. "Temasek, Fidelity pick up $200 million stake in Lenskart secondary deal at $5 billion valuation". The Economic Times. 3 June 2024. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 14 September 2024.

External links

Categories:
Lenskart Add topic