Omni-channel D2C eyewear brand Lenskart has set up a vision fund with a corpus of $20 million (Rs 148 crore) for eyecare startups as it looks tap into a niche segment in India’s growing healthcare industry.
Via the Lenskart Vision Fund, the company plans to invest up to $2 million in each of the selected startups.
Since the initiative is designed to help startups scale, Lenskart will select early-growth stage ventures with clear in-market evidence of traction and customer adoption, according to a statement.
In addition to the capital, select startups will also benefit from Lenskart’s market access and mentorship.
Focus sectors for the fund include D2C eyewear and eye care brands, technologies enabling access to vision care, eye testing technologies, omni-channel retail solutions across logistics, supply chain, merchandising, marketing, in-store automation and deep tech solutions for eyewear, retail and e-commerce.
“We have traversed the challenging journey as a start-up to become a unicorn. We believe it’s time to give back to the ecosystem and support exceptional entrepreneurs by helping them build scalable enterprises. We have a decade of experience and expertise in building and scaling a D2C business through technology which can be leveraged by start-ups to realise their vision of building world class businesses,” Peyush Bansal, founder and CEO of Lenskart, said.
Founded in 2010, Lenskart claims to have 700 plus retail stores and online channels across India, Singapore, Middle-East and the US.
In May 2021, Lenskart raised $95 million from global private equity firm KKR. The round created a partial exit for early investors TPG Growth and TR Capital The company had entered into the unicorn club in 2019 after it secured $275 million from SoftBank Vision Fund.
