Lenskart
Company typePrivate
Industry
Founded2010; 14 years ago (2010)
Founders
Headquarters
Gurgaon, Haryana
,
India
Number of locations
2,000+ retail stores (2022)
Area served
Key people
Peyush Bansal (Chairman; MD & CEO)
RevenueIncrease ₹3,780 crore (US$470 million) (FY23)[4]
Increase ₹260 crore (US$33 million) (FY23)[4]
Number of employees
5,000+ (2020)
Subsidiaries
  • Owndays
  • Neso Brands[5]
Websitelenskart.com

Lenskart is an Indian multinational optical prescription eyewear retail chain, based in Gurgaon.[6] As of March 2023, Lenskart has more than 2,000 retail stores, three-fourths of which are in India.[3] Its manufacturing facility in New Delhi manufactures 3 lakh glasses a month.[7][8][9] Lenskart is building an automated factory in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan, with an annual production capacity of 5 crore glasses.[2]

History

Peyush Bansal, a former Microsoft employee, founded Lenskart.com in 2010 along with Amit Chaudhary and Sumeet Kapahi.[10] In 2011, early investor IDG Ventures India directed the company to also sell wristwatches, bags and jewellery online to replicate Titan Company's business.[11][12] In 2011, the company launched Watchkart.com and Bagskart.com, and the following year, it started Jewelskart.com.[13] 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.[14]

Co-founder and CEO of Lenskart, Peyush Bansal

Lenskart launched the eyewear brand John Jacobs in 2017.[15][16] In October 2017, Lenskart signed up its first brand ambassador Katrina Kaif.[17][18] In 2018, the company became profitable, EBITDA positive.[7] In March 2019, the company hired Bhuvan Bam as its first male brand ambassador.[19]

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.[20]

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.[21] In 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.[22]

In March 2018, Wipro’s Chairman Azim Premji invested ₹4 crore in the group, taking the valuation of the company to ₹3,000 crore.[23][22] The company reached a valuation of $1 billion in December 2019 after SoftBank invested around $275 million.[24][25][8][26]

In March 2023, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority invested $500 million in Lenskart at a valuation of $4.5 billion.[3] In June 2023, the company raised $100 million from ChrysCapital.[27]

References

  1. ^ "Lenskart to launch 500 stores in 2020 and increase its focus on AI and digital marketing, says Co-founder, Amit Chaudhary". Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Lenskart may shift SE Asia manufacturing to India plant". mint. 29 August 2022. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Singh, Manish (15 March 2023). "ADIA invests $500 million in Lenskart". TechCrunch. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  4. ^ a b Sahay, Priyanka. "Lenskart swings to profit in FY23. Founder Peyush Bansal brings new CPO to strengthen work culture". The Economic Times. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  5. ^ "Lenskart-backed Neso Brands raises $100 million, appoints Bjorn Bergstrom CEO". Financial Express. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  6. ^ "Lenskart plans to hire over 2,000 employees in India by next year". mint. 11 August 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  7. ^ a b Bali, Shinmin (4 November 2018). "Expansion Plan: Lenskart eyes 50% market share". The Financial Express. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  8. ^ a b "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.
  9. ^ Sikdar, Shubhomoy (4 March 2019). "Lenskart sees more scope of growth in non-metros: CEO Peyush Bansal". Business Standard India. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ "Valyoo Technologies raises $4M from IDG Ventures India". Reuters. 1 November 2011. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  12. ^ "Adjust focus: How Peyush Bansal built Lenskart into a profitable unicorn". Forbes India. 19 September 2022. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  13. ^ "After Lenskart, Watchkart & Bagskart, Valyoo Technologies' Jewelskart.com Goes Live". TechCircle. 16 February 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  14. ^ "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.
  15. ^ PTI (13 January 2019). "John Jacobs to clock ₹500 cr revenue by March 2021". The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  16. ^ PTI (4 February 2018). "Lenskart invests $4 million to expand John Jacobs brand stores". Livemint. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  17. ^ "Lenskart ropes in Katrina Kaif as brand ambassador". Moneycontrol. 9 October 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  18. ^ "Katrina Kaif is Lenskart's first-ever ambassador". The Economic Times. 10 October 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  19. ^ "Lenskart announces Bhuvan Bam as its new brand ambassador". Economic Times Brand Equity. 29 March 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  20. ^ Singh, Manish (30 June 2022). "Lenskart acquires majority stake in eyewear brand Owndays in $400 million deal". TechCrunch. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
  21. ^ "Updated: Lenskart Is Raising INR 135 Cr. From TPG, TR Capital & IDG In Series C". Inc42. 2 January 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  22. ^ a b Sarkar, Ranju (23 May 2016). "How Lenskart is defying the start-up trend". Rediff. Business Standard. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  23. ^ Gooptu, Biswarup; Srinivasan, Supraja (2 March 2018). "Lenskart valuation touches Rs 3,000 Cr after a secondary transaction - ETtech". Economic Times Tech. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  24. ^ "SoftBank Vision Fund invests $275M in India's Lenskart". TechCrunch. 20 December 2019.
  25. ^ "Lenskart to become the next unicorn! Softbank to invest $350m at $1.3bn valuation". Business Today. 27 May 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  26. ^ Sharma, Samidha; Gooptu, Biswarup (27 May 2019). "Lenskart set to turn unicorn with likely $350M SoftBank funding - ETtech". Economic Times ETtech.com. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  27. ^ "Lenskart raises $100-mn in funding from private equity firm ChrysCapital". Business Line. 15 June 2023. Retrieved 17 December 2023.

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