Eyewear retailer Lenskart on Thursday mentioned that it has signed definitive agreements for a $500 million funding from a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Funding Authority (ADIA). This may made ADIA one of many largest shareholders in Lenskart. The funding shall be made by way of a purchase order of each main and secondary shares.
This fundraise was executed at a $4.2 billion valuation, in line with information report. It’s going to lead to ADIA changing into one of many largest shareholders with a ten per cent stake. Every week earlier, information company Bloomberg mentioned that AIDA is nearing a deal to amass a stake Lenskart Options Pvt. for about $500 million.
Peyush Bansal, founder and CEO of Lenskart, mentioned, “It’s nonetheless Day 1 at Lenskart. Imaginative and prescient Correction stays a giant drawback, and Myopia charges proceed to develop quickly, touching ranges of as excessive as 80-90 per cent in some elements of Asia. Therefore, we’re nonetheless very early in our journey and have a number of work to do to proceed to make our desired affect on this space of essential want. And ADIA, with its affected person and long-term method to investing, is an ideal associate for us as we embark on the subsequent section of our journey.”
Completion of the transaction is topic to receipt of statutory and regulatory approvals. Upon completion of the transaction, Lenskart could have attracted near $750 million capital during the last 12 months together with latest fund-raising actions, making it one of many largest such development stage financings globally.
Lenskart has grown into India’s largest optical model and is backed by KKR & Co., SoftBank Group Corp., Temasek Holdings Pte, and PremjiInvest, amongst others.
The eyewear agency, which makes use of expertise and provide chain automation to immediately promote glasses and make contact with lenses to customers, was co-founded in 2010 by Peyush Bansal, who can also be its chief government officer. The corporate agreed in June to purchase a majority stake in Japan’s Owndays Inc. at a valuation of about $400 million, in line with Bloomberg.
The corporate now has over 2,000 shops of which 1,500 are in India with the steadiness in Southeast Asia and the Center East. Its new manufacturing unit, which can play a big position in manufacturing the 20 million pairs of eyewear that the corporate plans to ship subsequent 12 months, may even be able to launch quickly. Lenskart grew income by 60 per cent for the second 12 months in a row and is now worthwhile.
Hamad Shahwan Al Dhaheri, government director, Personal Equities Division, ADIA, mentioned that Lenskart has quickly established itself as one of many largest and most revolutionary eyewear firms globally. “Given its distinctive technology-enabled and vertically built-in enterprise mannequin, we consider the corporate stays nicely positioned to construct on its management place,” Shahwan added.
