Bangalore: Omnichannel eyewear merchant Lenskart is in advanced talks to close a $200-250 million round that could boost its value to $4.5-5 billion, multiple people aware of the aforementioned matter. The financials are being rectified by Brainwave World, formerly Falcon Edge Capital, and could also include a secondary sale of shares, the sources said.
A portion of the funds raised will go to Lenskart's Thriasio-style direct-to-consumer (D2C) cumulative company, the people cited above. Alpha Wave has injected around $100 million of primary capital into Lenskart, the latest regulatory documents obtained from trade intelligence platform Tofler have shown.
Existing investors like Temasek, Schroder Adveq and others are also participating in this round. It comes about eight months after the SoftBank-backed startup closed for a $315 million raise last year, with parent private equity firm KKR investing $95 million through secondary transactions recently. During a secondary sale of shares, new investors obtain shares from existing investors, and therefore cash does not attend the company's coffers. To Get Updated with all tech updates, Aaj ki Taaza Khabre, news etc checkout our blogs.
Temasek had co-led that sideways brainwave round, after Lenskart was valued at $2.5 billion.
“The current financing round is almost complete, but not all current investors measure participation. This includes SoftBank, Kedaara Capital and others,” said one person awake to the main points.
A new person also in the know added that Lenskart's D2C company, led by Peyush Bansal, has had capable changes since it began financing negotiations last year. “The D2C project has been registered under Neso Brands and will start operations shortly,” the source said.
Bansal did not respond to email inquiries or messages.
Valuations Correction
Lenskart's latest funding comes at a time when late-stage startups have begun to see a decline in aggressive valuations of giant deals amid global corrections in startup funding. Have you read about The Untold Story Of Bitcoin?
The company has at least more than 900 stores in the Republic of India and had announced plans to expand to 1,000 by the end of March. At the same time, it is increasing its presence in the Southeast Asian (SEA) and Geographic Region (ME) markets following Alpha Wave's investment last year.
Bansal co-planned the associate degree initial public offering (IPO) amid a flurry of leading Indian startups in the public markets, but those plans are currently on hold due to uncertainties in the public markets. Indian startups like Zomato, Nykaa and Paytm, which went public last year, price trade significantly lower than their previous highs on exchanges.
"This could be the penultimate round that we raise (before the IPO)," Bansal told ET in 2021 once the $315 million round closed.
Acquisition plans
For Lenskart's Thriasio-style company, their goal is to travel the world and acquire brands in the country in North America and Europe, unlike similar companies of all stripes looking to do the same in the Republic of India. Stay updated with us to get all aaj ki taaza khabre.
John Jacobs is one of their leading brands in the Republic of India, which is sold through their offline stores and online platform. "He (Bansal) has control talks with various brands in Europe in the eyewear business for the D2C project," said someone aware of the matter.
US-based Thrasio pioneered a leading third-party brand buying model and further scaling it. In India, SoftBank-backed Global Bees and Tiger Global-backed Constellation Brands measure some of the Thrasio-like corporations that have raised vital capital from investors. Thrasio also entered the Republic of India earlier this year with plans to invest $500 million in an amount.
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