As it Prepares for its IPO, Lenskart Hopes to Attract as Much as $1 Billion from Investors

Nitin Konde, Varun Bhardwaj

Jan 10, 2025 — 3 min read

Lenskart Eyes $1 Billion Investment Ahead of IPO

According to industry sources, the eyewear company Lenskart has reached out to bankers to make a pitch for its impending IPO, which aims to raise roughly $1 billion. The company intends to go public by the beginning of next year and hopes to be valued at around $7 billion.

The pitch is scheduled for next month. Last year, a fund run by the prominent US financial services company Fidelity raised Lenskart's worth to $5.6 billion. Based on the company's valuation as of September 30, this indicated a 12% increase in the firm's fair worth in Fidelity's books.

Ongoing Financial Developments at Lenskart

Lenskart's operating revenue increased by 43% to about INR 5,427.7 crore in FY24 from around INR 3,788 crore in FY23. The company makes money by selling goggles, lenses, and frames for eyewear as well as by providing extra services like eye checkups. According to a media report, Lenskart's losses were reduced by 84% to around INR 10 crore in FY24 from about INR 63 crore in FY23 as a result of cost-effective management.

Temasek, Singapore's state-owned investment firm, and Fidelity contributed $200 million to Lenskart's secondary investment in June of last year. Secondary sales provide a means of paying back early investors when new companies' value increases. In this financing, the company managed by Peyush Bansal was valued at roughly $5 billion. When the company raised $100 million in June 2023, its most recent valuation was $4.5 billion. With about $1 billion in money raised over the last two years, Lenskart is among the biggest growth-stage financings in the world.

Lenskart Continues to Expand its Footprints

While expanding its global presence in Asia at a rapid pace, Lenskart is still expanding its market share in India. Its distinctive click-and-mortar business strategy is upending the eyewear market by providing a multichannel consumer experience through mobile apps, online platforms, and physical stores. 2,000 of the company's more than 2,500 outlets are located in India.

Delhi-based Lenskart faces competition from companies like Warby Parker, Specsmakers, Vision Express, Titan Eyeplus, and the Italian eyewear giant Luxottica Group, both domestically and internationally.

In order to expand its business and obtain access to new technology, the corporation has also been making acquisitions. These include businesses like Tango Eye, a firm focused on computer vision and artificial intelligence. In 2022, Owndays, a Japanese brand, joined the Lenskart group in an estimated $400 million purchase. According to recent reports, if negotiations for a secondary share sale of $200–300 million proceed, Lenskart's worth might increase by 20% to $6 billion.

Exploring Southern India for its Mega Projects

According to a LinkedIn post made by Bansal in April 2024, the company was looking for 25 acres of property to build a "megafactory." The planned location was within sixty kilometres of Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru.

With an estimated investment of around INR 1,500 crore, Lenskart intends to establish its largest eyewear manufacturing factory in Telangana. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been inked by the Telangana government and the Gurugram-based eyeglasses company to develop the facility at Fab City.