Abu Dhabi Funding Authority investing $500 million in Indian eyewear model Lenskart

The Abu Dhabi Funding Authority (ADIA), which is a sovereign wealth fund owned by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, investing $500 million in Indian eyewear retailer Lenskart, the corporate stated Thursday, 16 March.

In keeping with a joint press launch, the deal consists of each major and secondary shares. As soon as the deal completes, it is going to make ADIA one of many largest shareholders in Lenskart. 

Commenting on the funding, Hamad Shahwan Al Dhaheri, govt director of the personal equities division, ADIA, stated, “Given its distinctive technology-enabled and vertically built-in enterprise mannequin, we consider the corporate stays well-positioned to construct on its management place. This funding is a continuation of our technique of investing in extremely differentiated, market-leading companies in Asia linked to the area’s consumption-driven development and fast technological development,” 

Lenskart’s funding can be the largest funding spherical within the final one yr within the Indian startup ecosystem after Dailyhunt had raised $800 million in April 2022.

The corporate stated it is going to deploy the recent capital to increase its presence in Asia and the Center East.

“It’s nonetheless Day 1 at Lenskart. Imaginative and prescient Correction stays a giant drawback, and Myopia charges proceed to develop quickly, touching ranges as excessive as 80-90 per cent in some components of Asia. Therefore, we’re nonetheless very early in our journey and have quite a lot 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 accomplice for us as we embark on the subsequent section of our journey,” stated Peyush Bansal, founder & CEO of Lenskart.

New Delhi-based eyewear model Lenskart was based in 2008 by Bansal, Amit Chaudhary, Neha Bansal, and Sumeet Kapahi and is operated by Lenskart Options Pvt Ltd. The corporate has greater than 2,000 shops, of which 1,500 are in India and the remainder in Southeast Asia and the Center East.

Lenskart counts personal fairness agency KKR & Co., Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp., Singapore state funding agency Temasek, and India’s PremjiInvest as its present buyers.

Reportedly, the corporate was additionally in its with PE agency ChrysCapital to boost $100 million. In 2022, Lenskart raised $39.6 million from Chiratae Ventures, DSP India Fund, and Axis Progress Avenues AIF-I in its fifth spherical of funding.

At the moment, the eyewear retailer is planning to shift its manufacturing facility in Southeast Asia from Bhiwadi, Rajasthan. Final yr in June, it acquired a controlling stake in Japanese direct-to-consumer (D2C) eyewear model Owndays, in a bid to put itself as one of many largest omnichannel gamers within the eyewear class in Asia.

In keeping with Lenskart, the corporate is now worthwhile and its income elevated 60 per cent for the second yr in a row. In FY22, the corporate reported a web lack of Rs 102.3 crore from a web revenue of about Rs 29 crore in FY21.