IPO-Bound Lenskart Nets INR 3,268 Cr From Anchor Investors

Ahead of the commencement of the bidding for its public issue on October 31, omnichannel eyewear giant LensKart today raised INR 3,268.4 Cr from anchor investors.

The company allocated 8.13 Cr equity shares to 147 anchor investors, including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, BlackRock, SBI, Government of Singapore, Steadview Capital, New York State Teachers Retirement System, among others.

The company allotted the shares at INR 402 each, which is the upper end of the IPO price band. 

Of the 8.13 Cr shares, 2.87 Cr shares (or 35.3% of the total allocation) were allocated to 21 domestic mutual funds through a total of 59 schemes.

“The board of directors of the company… has finalised allocation of 8,13,02,412 equity shares, to anchor investors at anchor investor allocation price of INR 402 per equity share (including share premium of INR 400 per equity share)…” Lenskart said in a filing with the BSE. 

As per its red herring prospectus (RHP), the eyewear giant’s public issue will comprise a fresh issue of shares worth INR 2,150 Cr and an offer for sale (OFS) component of up to 12.76 Cr equity shares.

The OFS component will see participation from three cofounders Peyush Bansal, Amit Chaudhary, Sumeet Kapah as well as institutional backers such as SoftBank, Schroders Capital, Premji Invest, Temasek, Kedaara Capital, and Alpha Wave Ventures.

Earlier this week, the company set a price band of INR 382 to INR 402 for its IPO. At the upper end of the spectrum, the listing will value the company at INR 69,726 Cr (about $8 Bn). The public issue offer will finally close on November 4.

Founded in 2010, Lenskart is an omnichannel eyewear brand, with operations in India, Singapore, Spain, the UAE, and Japan. Besides its website and mobile app, the company generates sales through its 2,723 offline stores globally. It intends to add 620 more stores by FY29. 

Lenskart plans to use the fresh proceeds from the IPO to expand its physical retail presence by setting up new company-owned, company-operated stores across India. It will also use a chunk of the capital to make payments for rental or licence agreements for these stores, brand marketing, tech infrastructure and general corporate purposes.

On the financial front, Lenskart reported a net profit of INR 61.2 Cr in the first quarter (Q1) of the fiscal year 2025-26 (FY26) compared to a loss of INR 11 Cr in the year-ago period. Meanwhile, operating revenue zoomed 25% to INR 1,894.5 Cr from INR 1,520.4 Cr in Q1 FY25.