Omni-channel D2C eyewear brand Lenskart has announced that it has raised $220 million in the latest funding round co-led by Temasek Holdings, a Singapore-based sovereign wealth fund and Falcon Edge Capital. With this round, the eyewear brand is now valued at $2.5 billion.
Speaking on the announcement, Founder Peyush Bansal said, “Every vertical from apparel to footwear, aside from eyewear, has been disrupted globally. We can easily spend two decades solving the problem of awareness, penetration and affordability in eyewear.”
According to The Economic Times, “Lenskart’s existing investors TPG Capital and World Bank’s International Finance Corp. (IFC) have sold parts of their holdings in the Ghaziabad-based startup in this latest capital infusion, which was split equally between primary infusion and secondary share sale. In a secondary share sale, the capital does not flow into the company coffers as new investors use the capital to buy stakes from existing investors, who exit partially or fully.”
The company said that it plans to utilize the funds raised to augment its online sales as well as to add brick-and-mortar stores in India, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Prior to this, it announced its plans to invest up to $2 million in each of the selected start-ups that are synergistic to the eyewear, eye-care and omni-channel retail sectors.
