Lenskart, an India-based online eyewear retailer backed by internet and telecommunications group SoftBank, has raised $220m of funding at a $2.5bn valuation, TechCrunch reported today.
Singaporean state-owned investment vehicle Temasek and alternative asset manager Falcon Edge Capital co-led the round and were joined by Bay Capital and Chiratae Ventures.
Founded in 2010, Lenskart operates an e-commerce platform for eyewear products including prescription glasses, contact lenses and sunglasses. It also runs about 750 physical stores located across India and claims to have sold approximately 8 million pairs of eyewear products in 2020.
The company is planning to expand its operations in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Some of the cash from the round will be used to further develop its technology stack.
Lenskart launched a $20m corporate venture capital fund called Lenskart Vision Fund last month that will back technology startups focused on vision care. Investment firm KKR had bought $95m of shares from TPG Growth and TR Capital through a May 2021 secondary transaction.
The company had previously received $231m in series G funding from Softbank in late 2019 at a $1.5bn valuation, though some news outlets reported the size of the round as $275m.
Investors including Kedaara Capital, PremjiInvest, Chiratae Ventures, Steadview Capital, Epiq Capital, TR Capital, TPG Growth, Unilazer Ventures, International Finance Corporation, Adveq Management and various individuals had previously provided a total of about $99m for Lenskart across multiple rounds.