Lenskart Eyeing $100 Mn Funding From ChrysCapital

Private equity (PE) firm ChrysCapital is reportedly looking to invest around $100 Mn in the omnichannel eyewear brand Lenskart.

Sources cited by ET said that the talks about the funding are ongoing and the investment is yet to come. However, if the deal goes through, it would become one of the largest funding deals in a new-age tech startup by ChrysCapital, which has backed the likes of Dream11, Xpressbees and FirstCry in India, among others.

Alpha Wave Global may also join ChrysCapital in the ongoing funding round.

Further, Lenskart’s total ongoing funding round would reach $500 Mn if ChrysCapital chooses to write a cheque. Also, the ongoing funding round would give partial exits to early backers such as SoftBank, Kedaara Capital and TR Capital, among others.

Last month, it was widely reported that early backers in Lenskart were looking for exits during the ongoing funding round. The funding round was reported in December 2022, with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (AIDA) said to be investing $400 Mn in the eyewear brand.

Kedaara Capital holds about a 9% stake in Lenskart, while SoftBank and Premji Invest own 19% and 10.4%, respectively. SoftBank is the eyewear brand’s single largest investor, having joined the captable in 2019.

Incidentally, the ongoing round is mostly a secondary share sale, which means that Lenskart won’t get most of the investment.

The funding round is valuing the eyewear brand at $4 Bn, slightly lower than the $4.5 Bn valuation it commanded during the last funding round in July 2022. However, secondary share sales are typically carried out at a discount to the last valuation.

The SoftBank-backed D2C eyewear brand posted a consolidated loss of INR 102.3 Cr in FY22 against a profit of INR 28.9 Cr in FY21 as the rise in expenses outpaced the increase in its revenue.

Lenskart’s total revenue rose 56.7% to INR 1,618.3 Cr in FY22 from INR 1,032.2 Cr in FY21, while revenue from operations surged 66% to INR 1,502.7 Cr from INR 905.3 Cr in FY21. About 94% of Lenskart’s FY22 revenue came from the sale of eyewear products while the rest was from subscription fees and other sources.

Last June, the eyewear brand acquired Japanese eyewear brand OWNDAYS in a deal reportedly worth around $400 Mn. The Delhi-based company also launched a Thrasio-style eyewear-focused ecommerce rollup venture, Neso Brands.

Neso Brands raised $100 Mn in India’s largest seed funding round ever, shortly after being set up by Lenskart founder Peyush Bansal.