
Lenskart secures shareholder nod to raise Rs 2,150 crore via IPO
One of the sources said the company is set to file its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in the coming days. With this, Lenskart will join other large new-age firms like Groww, Meesho, PhysicsWallah, and Pine Labs that are filing IPO documents this year. In total, nearly 14 venture-backed new-age companies are aiming to raise over Rs 20,000 crore from the public markets in 2025. Filings also showed that Lenskart's shareholders, including SoftBank, Kedaara Capital, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Fidelity and Temasek, have approved a new employee stock option plan, Esop 2025, comprising 7.2 million shares. Data from Tracxn shows that about 19% of Lenskart's shares are currently earmarked for its Esop pool.
ET had reported on July 10 that Lenskart plans to issue additional shares to founder and CEO Peyush Bansal through a structured payout, which may increase his holding by 1.5-2%. Bansal and his sister Neha Bansal, also a cofounder, together own 14-15% of the company. Lenskart, which won The ET Startup Awards 2024 in the Startup of the Year category, operates in India and other markets such as the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Australia, Japan and South Korea.
In FY24, Lenskart's operating revenue grew 43% year-on-year to Rs 5,428 crore, while its net loss narrowed to Rs 10 crore from Rs 64 crore in FY23. In an October interview with ET, Peyush Bansal said the company is investing $200 million in a new manufacturing plant in southern India. Currently, Lenskart makes frames and lenses at its facility in Rajasthan.
Lenskart's last round of funding in June 2024 valued the company at $5 billion. US-based Fidelity marked up the valuation of the omnichannel eyewear retailer by more than a fifth to $6.1 billion at the end of April. The company's omnichannel strategy, combining its website with more than 2,500 retail outlets, has been a major growth driver. While online sales have outpaced store sales growth in the past two to three years, Lenskart continues to expand its offline footprint aggressively.Filings also showed that Lenskart has appointed PaySense cofounder Sayali Karanjkar and IndMoney founder Ashish Kashyap as independent directors on its board.Peyush Bansal has been named chairman, managing director and CEO of Lenskart, while Neha Bansal has been appointed executive director. Cofounder Amit Chaudhary has been named an executive director on the board.
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