Exclusive: Lenskart Raises $40 Mn Funding From Chiratae Ventures, DSP India Fund

Peyush Bansal-led D2C eyewear brand Lenskart continues to raise more funds even during recession-like periods. The SoftBank-backed startup is now raising $39.6 Mn (INR 323.4 Cr) from a set of investors including Chiratae Ventures, DSP India Fund, and Axis Bank’s Axis Growth Avenues AIF-I. 

In an extraordinary general meeting held earlier this month, the shareholder of Lenskart has decided to issue a little over 1.4 Mn cumulative, compulsory, mandatorily, and fully convertible Series I1 preference shares to the above-mentioned investors. In this tranche, while DSP India Fund has infused $15 Mn, Chiratae Ventures and Axis Growth Avenues AIF-1 has pumped in $12.2 Mn each. 

With this round, Lenskart has now raised $205.5 Mn in multiple tranches in 2022 alone. Lenskart had earlier raised $100 Mn in a fresh round of investment from Alpha Wave Ventures, and later went on to raise $25 Mn from Epiq Capital, $28 Mn from Avendus Capital, and $12.5 Mn from Manyavar Owners Ravi Modi Family Trust. 

Between raising rounds, Lenskart has also struck a major deal of a whopping $400 Mn when it acquired Japan’s eyewear brand OWNDAYS, which would enable Lenskart to reach 13 markets including India and Japan, along with other Southeast Asian countries. 

Founded in 2010 by Bansal, Amit Chaudhury, and Sumeet Kapathi, Lenskart claims to serve more than 100K customers per month. The company boasts of serving more than 7 Mn customers annually through its omnichannel shopping experience, which spans through online, mobile application, and more than 750 stores in 175 cities across the country. The Faridabad-based startup has even expanded its business on foreign soil in 2019 when it entered Singapore. The startup to date has raised close to $980 Mn in multiple rounds.

In FY22, Lenskart’s operating revenue has crossed the INR 1,500 Cr mark. The other D2C brand to have achieved this milestone includes Aman Gupta’s earphone brand – boAt. Lenskart has earned INR 1,502.7 Cr from its operations in FY22, a 66% jump from INR 905.3 Cr in FY21. However, Lenskart slipped into the red in FY22 for the first time since FY22. It posted a loss of INR 102.3 Cr in FY22, as against a profit of INR 28.9 Cr in FY21.  

In the eyewear space it competes with the likes of ClearDekho, Coolwinks, and Urban Monkey, Titan Eyewear, Himalaya, and others.

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