The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), through its wholly owned subsidiary, has agreed to invest $500 million in Lenskart, the Indian eyewear retailer announced on Thursday.
In a statement, Lenskart said the aforementioned investment will be made via a purchase of both primary and secondary shares and will result in ADIA becoming one of its largest shareholders.
Upon completion of the transaction, Lenskart will have attracted close to $750 million capital over the last 12 months. With the latest investment, Lenskart will continue to deepen its penetration in India and rapidly scale its international presence in Asia and the Middle-East, the company said.
Founded in 2008 by Peyush Bansal, Amit Chaudhary, Neha Bansal, and Sumeet Kapahi, Lenskart joined the unicorn club (startups valued at $1 billion and above) in 2019. It also counts SoftBank, Premji Invest, Alpha Wave Global, Temasek, and KKR among its investors.
The company currently operates 2,000+ stores, of which 1,500 are in India with the balance in Southeast Asia and the Middle-East. Lenskart will also soon launch its new factory that will have the capacity to manufacture 20 million pairs of eyewear. The factory will also start shipping eyewear next year onwards.
Lenskart claims to have grown its revenues by 60% for the second year in a row and is now profitable. The company had recorded a loss of Rs 102 crore in FY22 after clocking a profit of Rs 28 crore in the previous financial year.
“Vision correction remains a big problem, and myopia rates continue to grow rapidly, touching levels as high as 80-90% in some parts of Asia. Hence, we are still very early in our journey and have a lot of work to do to make our desired impact in this area of critical need,” said Peyush Bansal, Founder and CEO of Lenskart.
Avendus Capital was the exclusive financial advisor to Lenskart and its shareholders on the transaction. EY acted as ADIA’s advisors on accounting and tax matters, while AZB & Partners and Allen & Overy acted as legal advisors to ADIA.