AI vision: Founder Peyush Bansal bets on ‘small, beautiful' deals to bolster Lenskart's tech capabilities
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Eyewear retail chain Lenskart is continuing to invest in and acquire artificial intelligence (AI) companies to strengthen its technological capabilities, founder Peyush Bansal said on Friday.'We are definitely investing and acquiring a lot of AI companies right now. I always thought acquisition was a good way to speed up technology. It's not the first time. I like small, beautiful deals, which are building tech, and that has always enhanced the tech capabilities,' Bansal said at Shiprocket's Shivir, AI Commerce Edition: Made for Bharat.Earlier this month, Lenskart invested in Ajna Lens, a Mumbai-based deeptech company building AI-powered XR glasses.The company is reported to be planning to acquire location AI startup GeoIQ. Earlier in 2023, Lenskart had acquired Tango Eye, an AI-based computer vision startup.'We think technology first for problem solving, and AI makes it a lot more exciting for us, because for us, that journey is that the base is built, and we feed each other now. We have the super power to do things which we could not have imagined earlier,' he added.However, according to Bansal, while the company adopted AI quite early on, it is much simpler for newer firms to build with AI from the ground up than it is for large companies, which have to transform their existing structures.Lenskart plans to file papers for its draft initial public offering (IPO) this year, targeting a potential $10 billion valuation for a $1 billion public issue, ET had reported earlier.On July 10, ET reported that the Gurugram-based company is likely to issue additional shares to Bansal through a structured payout arrangement, which could increase his stake in the company by 1.5-2%.The SoftBank-backed company closed a $200 million secondary round in June last year at a $5 billion valuation, with investments from Singapore sovereign fund Temasek and US financial services giant Fidelity. A month later, founders Bansal, Neha Bansal, Amit Choudhary, and Sumeet Kapahi invested almost $20 million in the company.The company produces 25 million frames and 30-40 million lenses annually. It operates more than 2,500 stores in India and Southeast Asia and has a strong online presence.
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