Lenskart Raises INR 160 Cr From Peyush Bansal, Other Cofounders

Omnichannel eyewear unicorn LensKart has raised INR 160 Cr (about $19.1 Mn) from its cofounders Peyush Bansal, Neha Bansal, Amit Chaudhary and Sumeet Kapahi.

As per the startup’s regulatory filings accessed by Inc42, its board passed a resolution last month to issue 6.95 Lakh compulsorily convertible cumulative preference shares at an issue price of INR 2,300 each to raise INR 160 Cr.

Lenskart CEO Peyush Bansal emerged as the biggest investor in the round, pumping around INR 70.7 Cr, followed by Neha Bansal at INR 70.39 Cr. While Chaudhary invested INR 9.6 Cr, Kapahi infused INR 9.35 Cr into the startup.

The development comes days after Singapore state investment firm Temasek and US-based Fidelity pumped in $200 Mn (about INR 1673.2 Cr) in Lenskart in June through a secondary share sale at a valuation of $5 Bn.

Lenskart has raised close to $1 Bn in funding over the last 18 months. 

Founded in 2010, the startup is among the largest omnichannel eyewear retailers. It also has presence in Singapore, the UAE & other geographies. Lenskart has a customer base of 20 Mn in India. The company has 2,500+ stores, of which around 2,000 are in India.

Last year, Lenskart bagged $100 Mn in funding from private equity player ChrysCapital. Earlier in that year, Lenskart secured $500 Mn from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).

The Delhi NCR-based startup clocked sales of INR 3,788 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23), up 152% from INR 1,502.7 Cr in FY22. Eyewear segment accounted for 95% of its revenues. Meanwhile, net loss narrowed 38% to INR 63.7 Cr in FY23 from INR 102.3 Cr in FY22.