Exclusive: Peyush Bansal’s Lenskart Bags $28 Mn From Avendus

IPO-bound eyewear giant LensKart is raising close to $28.2 Mn from Avendus Future Leaders Fund II. For the fresh round of funding, the startup has allotted 1,053,882 Series I CCPS for consideration of $28.2 Mn (INR 219.9 Cr) funding.

The round seems to be part of a bigger round to have been reported earlier and is now coming in tranches. Lenskart had earlier raised $100 Mn in a fresh round of investment from Alpha Wave Ventures and an additional $25 Mn from Epiq Capital. The development has come almost a year after it raised $315 Mn at a valuation of $2.5 Bn. 

Founded in 2010 by Bansal, Amit Chaudhury, and Sumeet Kapathi, Lenskart claims to reach 1,00,000 customers per month. The company boasts of serving more than 7 Mn customers annually through its omnichannel shopping experience, which spans online, mobile applications, and more than 750 stores in 175 cities across the country. The company expanded its business on foreign soil in 2019 when it entered Singapore 2019.

In July last year, Lenskart raised $315 Mn from Temasek, Falcon Edge, Bay Capital, KKR, and Chiratae Ventures among others. 

The startup last year had also launched ‘Vision Fund’ which would invest $2 Mn in selected startups that are synergistic to the eyewear, eye care, and omnichannel retail sectors.

In addition to the infusion of capital, select startups will benefit from Lenskart’s market access via 700+ retail stores and online channels across India, Singapore, the Middle East, and the US.

The startup entered the unicorn club in 2020, after raising INR 1,645 Cr ($231 Mn) from SoftBank Vision Fund II and Lightbulb Ltd as part of its Series G funding round. Lenskart has raised $459.6 Mn to date from investors Chiratae Ventures, TPG, Premji Invest, Unilazer Ventures and others.