India-based eyewear retailer Lenskart intends to invest between $2m and $3m in businesses developing vision-related technologies and products, the Economic Times has reported.
Lenskart sells glasses through an e-commerce platform as well as 410 brick-and-mortar outlets. It plans to collaborate on product development with the companies in which it invests. as it heads for a public listing that it expects to take place by 2020.
The first such deal is a $500,000 investment in US-based corrective glasses manufacturer ThinOptics, which makes collapsible reading spectacles that can attach to accessories such as keyrings.
The company expects to launch additional designs in partnership with ThinOptics, which had already raised an undisclosed amount of funding from venture capital firm Maywic Select Investments at an unspecified date, for the Indian market.
Lenskart’s past investments include Israel-based refraction measurement technology developer 6over6; US-based Ditto, which is developing 3D imaging technology to improve the fit of spectacles on a person’s face; and India-based luxury eyewear brand John Jacobs.