Lenskart Co-founder negotiates $1 billion share purchase
Lenskart is gearing up for a $1 billion IPO, aiming for a bold $10 billion valuation—almost twice its last private value of $6.1 billion.
The company plans to file its draft prospectus publicly in early July, skipping the confidential route.
Top investment banks like Kotak Mahindra Capital and Morgan Stanley are managing the process.
The eyewear giant has raised nearly $2B so far
Started in 2010 by Peyush Bansal and team, Lenskart runs over 2,500 stores plus a strong online platform across India, UAE, Singapore, and Japan.
They make millions of eyewear units each year using their own manufacturing setup and have raised nearly $2 billion from big investors like SoftBank and Temasek.
CEO Peyush Bansal increasing his stake ahead of IPO
Ahead of the IPO, CEO Peyush Bansal is increasing his stake from about 4% to almost 6% by buying shares from existing investors at a lower valuation—a move often seen before Indian startup IPOs.
To fund this, he's working on a ₹200 crore loan.
In FY24, Lenskart posted ₹5,427 crore revenue with just ₹10 crore in losses as it continued expanding.