Lenskart Bags INR 1,645 Crore from SoftBank Vision Fund II

The Delhi-headquartered startup, Lenskart has lately raised INR 1,645 crore from SoftBank’s subsidiary, SoftBank Vision Fund II Lightbulb Ltd. The funding has been received as a component of the startup’s Series G funding round.

SoftBank-operated fund, SoftBank Vision Fund II Lightbulb (Cayman) Limited will purchase 22,976,465 Series G Cumulative Convertible Preference Shares(CCPS) in Lenskart at a face value of INR 2 and premium of IN 713.95, totalling to INR INR 16,450,000,116, Inc42 reported citing the regulatory filings of Lenskart.

In September this year, the eye-wear startup has passed a decision to raise INR 392 crore from PE firm, Kedaara Capital in Series F. The deal was finished by September 16, 2019.

In Lenskart’s past deal, Kedaara Capital Fund II LLP purchased 43,88,302 stakes for $39 million and Kedaara Norfolk Holdings Limited purchased 17,55,321 stakes for $15 million, Inc42 reported citing the regulatory filings of the startup. 

Investments by SoftBank Vision Fund II

The current infusion by SoftBank Vision Fund II (SVF) is the primary investment in India and second investment across the globe. It is also maiden investment by the Vision Fund II following the Japanese conglomerate firm, SoftBank slammed after the fiasco of WeWork, a portfolio firm of SoftBank.

SVF is primarily raising money from Microsoft Corp, Foxconn Technology Group, Apple Inc, and Sovereign wealth fund of Kazakhstan concertedly amounting nearly $2 billion, Bloomberg reported. 

The fund had also partaken in the funding round for Chinese online realty listing service, Beike Zhaofang, the media reported stated.

The first round of SVF was close to $100 billion but skepticism on the company’s investment strategy and bets on cash-crunching startups, it is uncertain to gather a similar humongous corpus this time.

Sumer Juneja, Partner and Head of India at SoftBank Investment Advisors, led investment in the eyewear startup, Lenskart; he joined the company in November last year. The transaction is also considered the second investment by the Japanese conglomerate firm in e-commerce enterprise having a large offline presence.  In the past year, Masayoshi Son-led firm had sowed $150 million in Indian baby products retailer startup, FirstCry which also have a huge offline presence.

Working on its Business Model

Lenskart, which was established in 2010, is gradually improving its profit and loss account for the past three years and at the same time, increasing its footprint in the Indian market as well as abroad. The startup has set its foot in an array of new categories like contact lenses.

According to business intelligence platform, Tofler, In FY 2017-18, Lenskart reported a net loss of INR 27.89 crore as compared to a net loss of nearly INR 118 crore in FY 2017-18 as depicted in documents filed at Registrar of Companies.

In 2019, the total revenue of the startup reached INR 486.26 crore as the firm increased throughout the country and  forayed in Singapore, its foremost invasion in overseas niche, reported The Economic Times.

The cited media agency reports that industry experts said India’s eyewear segment is a $10 million market opportunity, in which the part of the organised sector as considered as any retailer with 10-15 stores is calibrated between $350-$450 million.

The latest move happen following Kedaara Capital infused more than $55 million in the eyewear firm.

Kedaara Capital, which was established in 2011, by Manish Kejriwal, Ex-Temasek India Head,  Sunish Sharma and Nishant Sharma, Senior Executives at General Atlantic are in discussions to buy stakes in eyewear via a second transaction, reported the cited media agency.

Ronnie Screwvala’s Unilazer Ventures, International Finance Corp, the private investment arm of the World Bank, TR Capital, Chiratae Ventures, TPG Growth,  Steadview Capital, PremjiInvest and asset management firm, Adveq Management are some of the institutional bankers associated with Lenskart.