Lenskart raises $200 mn from multiple investors

SoftBank-backed online eyewear retailer Lenskart has raised $200 million from investors including Temasek Holdings and Falcon Edge Capital. The company aims to use the capital along with the $95 million raised earlier in the year from KKR & Co to add more brick-and-mortar stores as well as expand its online business in Southeast Asia and Middle East.

"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," said founder Peyush Bansal

Last year Lenskart sold about 8 million pairs of eyewear. By the year ended March 2022, the company aims to increase that by 30 per cent. The startup said that the combined market opportunity of Southeast Asia and Middle East is projected to be more than$15 billion by 2025.

Lenskart aims to invest in order to ramp up its supply chain and add new technologies. Its new manufacturing plant in Rajasthan is said to be the largest factory in the world for ready prescription glasses. They make 1.5 lakh pairs a day. They also plan to invest $2 million in startups working in the eyewear retail segment and set up the Lenskart Vision Fund recently.

The company's digital offerings include a virtual 3D tool to try out new glasses as well as face-mapping using artificial intelligence to help with frame recommendations.