Eyewear Retailer Lenskart to Raise $400 mn From Abu Dhabi Investment Authority: Report The investment, once complete, is likely to give ADIA a near 10 per cent stake in Lenskart
By Soumya Duggal •
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Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) is in advanced talks with New Delhi-based eyewear retail chain Lenskart to invest a sum of $350 million to $400 million, according to a report by The Economic Times. ADIA is a sovereign wealth fund owned by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi founded for the purpose of investing funds on behalf of the government of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
The investment, the largest fundraise by SoftBank-backed Lenskart, will most likely be through a secondary sale of shares with a primary round consisting of growth equity at a $4.5 billion valuation, stated the report, explaining that some of Lenskart's investors are looking for a partial exit.
While it hasn't yet been decided which investors would dilute their stake and by how much, an official announcement to that end could be out within a couple of weeks, said the report. The investment, once complete, is likely to give ADIA a near 10 per cent stake in Lenskart. The latter expanded its international presence last year in Singapore, the US and the West Asia, in addition to acquiring a majority stake in Japanese eyewear brand Owndays and, as a result, becoming one of the largest online eyewear retailers in Asia.
Last month, Lenskart raised $39.6 million from Chiratae Ventures, DSP India Fund and Axis Growth Avenues AIF-I in its fifth fundraising round this year. The omnichannel eyewear brand was founded in 2010 by Peyush Bansal and today counts among its investors KKR, Premji Invest, Kedaara Capital, Temasek and Falcon Edge, among others.
