Kedaara Capital invests $55 mn in omnichannel eyewear retailer Lenskart

Private equity firm Kedaara Capital has invested $55 million in omnichannel eyewear retailer Lenskart Solutions.

The investment was done through two entities Kedaara Capital Fund-II and Kedaara Norfolk Holdings picking up 6.14 million Series F compulsorily convertible cumulative preference shares (CCPS), according to regulatory filings.

The deal would be Kedaara’s first bet on the domestic consumer internet sector. Kedaara is a sector-agnostic, mid-sized private equity firm that is currently investing from a $750 million fund.

Kedaara’s investment in Lenskart was first reported by VCCircle in August. According to the report, Kedaara is believed to be picking up around 5-7% stake in the Delhi­-headquartered company. The deal involves a secondary sale by PremjiInvest, the private investment arm of Wipro’s founder chairman Azim Premji, the report said.

VCCircle is owned by Mosaic Media Ventures, the company that owns and publishes TechCircle.

A separate set of filings show that existing investor International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank's private-sector investment arm, has converted its 1.85 million Series D CCCPS into fully paid-up equity shares in the ratio of 1:1.

Lenskart had last raised an undisclosed sum from TR Capital, Epiq Capital, Steadview Capital and PremjiInvest in March last year. 

Its other investors include Chiratae Ventures (earlier IDG Ventures); Unilazer Ventures, a venture capital investment arm of media entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala; private equity firm TPG Growth; and Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons.

Lenskart has also been in talks with Softbank Vision Fund, Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group’s investment arm, to raise $350-400 million as primary capital, according to multiple media reports.

The eyewear retailer was founded in 2008 by Peyush Bansal, Amit Chaudhary, Neha Bansal and Sumeet Kapahi. In addition to the online platform, it has a wholesale division engaged in assembly, distribution and supply of eyewear.

In January 2014, the company had set up its first offline store in Chandigarh. Currently, it runs several stores via a franchise model across the country.

The company had launched a host of online ventures including Bagskart.com, Watchkart.com and Jewelskart.com, which it shut down by December 2014 to focus on its core business.

In May last year, Lenskart backed US-based reading glasses maker ThinOptics.

Earlier known as Valyoo Technologies, Lenskart reported an 84% growth in revenues at Rs 292.3 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2018. The company cut its consolidated net losses by more than half to Rs 118.1 crore.