Lenskart


Lenskart is an Indian optical prescription eyewear retail chain. As of September 2019, Lenskart had over 500 stores in 70 cities in India. The company had a valuation of $1.5 billion by Dec 2019 after Softbank invested around $275 million. Peyush Bansal, a former Microsoft employee, founded Lenskart in 2010 along with Amit Chaudhary and Sumeet Kapahi. In 2020 Lenskart generated total revenue of Rs.1000 cr. plus
Financial backers of Lenskart include TPG Growth, International Finance Corp and Adveq Management. Ratan Tata and S Gopalakrishnan have also invested in Lenskart. In March 2018 Wipro Chairman Azim Premji invested 400cr in the group taking the valuation of the company to 3000 Crore. By 2016 Lenskart had become one of the two top optical chains in India, along with Titan Eye Plus. Its manufacturing facility in Delhi manufactures 300,000 glasses a month. Lenskart also has a factory in Zhengzhou which manufactures about 50% of the production. Lenskart launched the eyewear brand John Jacobs in 2017 and for that brand aimed to touch Rs 500 crore in revenue in two years. In 2018 the company became profitable.
The company is in talks with Japanese group SoftBank as well as the private equity firm Kedaara Capital for investment. These investments will make Lenskart the next unicorn.
In October 2017, Lenskart's first brand ambassador was Katrina Kaif. In March 2019 the company roped in Bhuvan Bam as their first male brand ambassador.