ADIA acquires stake in Lenskart

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) is picking up a ten per cent stake in Lenskart.

This will be the largest fundraise by the omni channel eyewear retailer. The investment will mostly be through a secondary sale of shares with a small primary round consisting of growth equity. The sale of eyewear products is the main source of income for Lenskart, contributing around 94 per cent of total operating revenue. Lenskart expanded its international footprint last year in Singapore, the US and the Middle East and even acquired a majority stake in Japan’s Owndays in June, creating one of Asia’s biggest online retailers of eyewear. The acquisition will widen its direct to consumer footprint in southeast Asian markets, including Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan.The rapid expansion led to a 66 per cent growth in operating revenue in the last fiscal year. Lenskart has over 1,200 stores in India and abroad. In 2021, Lenskart shipped around seven million eyewear pairs.The company has a manufacturing unit in Haryana and is scaling up with a fully automated facility in Rajasthan to start in a few months. Billed as the largest eyewear plant in the world, it will allow Lenskart to ship up to 50 million pairs every year. ADIA is an active investor in startups or emerging companies that have a strong consumer connect and brand pull or are working on cutting edge biotech and frontier technologies.