Lenskart-Backed Neso Brands Invests $4 Mn In Paris-Based Eyewear Brand

Lenskart-backed Neso Brands, a house of brands specialising in eyewear, has invested $4 Mn in Paris-based omnichannel eyewear brand Le Petit Lunetier and acquired a significant stake in the company.

Neso Brands’ equity investment will be used to accelerate Le Petit Lunetier’s retail expansion and strengthen its brand presence in Europe. The funding will also be used to introduce Le Petit Lunetier to Lenskart’s core markets in Asia and the Middle East.

Following the investment, Peyush Bansal, cofounder of Neso Brands and CEO of the LensKart Group, and Bjorn Bergstrom, CEO & cofounder of Neso Brands, will join Le Petit Lunetier’s boards.

“This strategic investment marks our first foray into the European market… We are particularly excited to bring this vibrant brand to Lenskart’s customers and have already seen a tremendous reception of the brand in India following a limited pilot launch in Delhi,” said Bergstrom.

Neso Brands’ and Lenskart’s operational teams will also support the Paris-based company to improve its efficiency and growth, the companies said in a joint statement.

Neso Brands will roll out predictive analytics technology, powered by TangoEye, throughout Le Petit Lunetier’s retail stores. TangoEye, an intelligence software company, is also a part of Neso’s portfolio. The company offers a cloud-based retail analytics software to enable high customer engagement and sales conversion in physical stores. 

Founded in 2015 by former Google and Rad.co executive Jérémie Encaoua and optician Elie Attias, Le Petit Lunetier is a D2C eyewear brand. Along with a strong online presence, it operates 16 stores in France.

On the other hand, omnichannel eyewear unicorn Lenskart’s Thrasio-style startup Neso Brands was founded in 2022. It raised $100 Mn in a seed funding round in May last year, led by the likes of KKR, Softbank, Alpha Wave Global, and Temasek.

In June 2022, Lenskart acquired a majority stake in Japanese eyewear brand OWNDAYS in a deal said to be worth around $400 Mn. The latest statement by Neso Brands mentions OWNDAYS as one of its portfolio brands along with Le Petit Lunetier, TangoEye, and GeoIQ

As part of the Lenskart Group, Neso Brands not only brings capital but also manufacturing capabilities, technology, and distribution support to its portfolio companies. 

For instance, its portfolio brands have access to Lenskart’s proprietary network of over 1,500 stores across APAC and the Middle East as well as supply chain synergies via the unicorn’s fully automated eyewear plant in Bhiwadi, India. 

In June this year, Lenskart raised $100 Mn in funding from private equity player ChrysCapital with plans to further strengthen its position as a global eyewear leader while its presence in Singapore, UAE, and other geographies is also growing.

In June, the startup said it had a customer base of 20 Mn in India alone.