Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Lenskart.
Today, a third of India's population needs spectacles. The term "need" applies to the people who have been diagnosed with vision issues, but only about a quarter of them actually wear spectacles. When we sum up the number of people who choose to wear glasses as a fashion accessory, the figures are staggering. Customers in this group are interested in having several pairs of eyeglasses to go with a range of outfits. Every day in India, over 1.5 million (15 lacs) spectacles are sold. The industry is highly divided, with mom-and-pop shops dominating. This eyewear industry has taken a new turn since 2010 when Lenskart was born.
Lenskart is a Faridabad, India-based optical prescription eyewear retail chain, which operates as an eCommerce marketplace for prescription power glasses, BLU glasses, frames, and goggles. Furthermore, Lenskart also focuses on brick and mortar stores. It has already managed to establish over 80 physical retail stores across India, as of December 2021. Its Delhi manufacturing facility produces 300,000+ glasses every month. Lenskart also has a factory in Zhengzhou, China, that handles nearly 20% of its production of frames. Hailed as the largest eyewear brand in India, the company is also known as a unicorn prescription eyewear company, which entered the coveted club of Indian unicorns back in December 2019.
If you want to know more about Lenskart, the company, along with some insights into its Founders and Team, Funding and investors, Mission and vision, Products and services, Business model, Revenue model, Competitors, Growth, Future plan, and more, then you've got your destination right. This article from StartupTalky will give you a complete insight into the Success Story of Lenskart.
Lenskart - Company Highlights
| Startup Name | Lenskart |
|---|---|
| Legal Name | Lenskart Solutions Private Limited |
| Headquarters | Faridabad, Delhi NCR, India |
| Industry | Prescription Eyewear, E-commerce |
| Founded | 2010 |
| Founders | Peyush Bansal, Sumeet Kapahi, Amit Chaudhary |
| CEO | Peyush Bansal |
| Parent organization | Valyoo Technologies |
| Funding | $774 mn (November 2021) |
| Revenue | $127.64 mn (FY20) |
| Valuation | $2.5 bn (July 2021) |
| Area Served | Worldwide |
| Website | lenskart.com |
About Lenskart and How it Works?
Lenskart - Industry | Target Market Size
Lenskart - Name, Logo and Tagline
Lenskart - Founders and Team
Lenskart - Startup Story
Lenskart - Mission and Vision
Lenskart - Product and Services
Lenskart - Business Model
Lenskart - Funding and Investors
Lenskart - Investments
Lenskart - Acquisitions
Lenskart - Revenue and Growth
Lenskart - Competitors
Lenskart - Challenges Faced
Lenskart - Future Plans
Lenskart - FAQs
About Lenskart and How it Works?
Lenskart is a leading e-commerce company that maintains an online optical store packed with both classic and trendy eyeglasses, lenses and more at affordable prices. These glasses can be easily ordered online by the customers, who will get them delivered with many discounts that come and go.
Unlike many other players, Lenskart operates on both an online and offline distribution platform. Customers can shop online at www.lenskart.com or in person at their distinctively built offline store. With the first-of-its-kind ‘Home eye checkup,' Lenskart is revolutionizing the eyewear industry. They use specialized robots to deliver glasses in Lenskart that are accurate to 3 decimal places.
Lenskart offers 5000+ different models of eyewear and offers free home delivery with a 14-day replacement guarantee. The company manufactures everything in the eyewear category, from sunglasses to reading glasses to contact lenses.
In this sector, there are three success factors: product, quality and portfolio, delivery time, and after-sales support. Their value proposition is straightforward: deliver a high-quality product at a reasonable price.
Vidhi Punamiya
Lenskart - Industry | Target Market Size
The market for eyewear in India has recorded revenues at around $4,427 mn in 2021. With a market volume of $1,985 mn, spectacle lenses have been occupying the largest segment in the market.
To tap into one such market is profitable indeed, when the idea of operation is new and backed with able investors like Softbank, Alpha Wave and Ratan Tata.
Lenskart was established with the aim of providing ‘vision to India.' In line with this, they recently developed Lenskart Lite, a low-cost franchise model aimed at upcountry markets, especially tier 3 and 4 markets. The model, which is aimed at micro-entrepreneurs, needs a Rs 20 lakh investment. The format brings in about Rs 4-6 lakh per month in revenue. They already have a standard Lenskart franchise model for the tier-2 markets, with an investment criterion of Rs 35 lakh and estimated monthly revenues of Rs 8-10 lakh.
“We want to be the Maruti [Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest automobile manufacturer] of eyewear in India,” said Peyush Bansal, CEO of Lenskart.
Varad Kitey
Lenskart - Name, Logo and Tagline
The company edited the three most widely recognized frame shapes – a square, a circle, and a triangle – to create slightly more abstract forms, and this is how the Lenskart logo was created. The font used for the Lenskart logo was narrowed down to Rajdhani.
Lenskart tagline is “Log on, Play on!”.
Lenskart - Founders and Team
Peyush Bansal, Sumeet Kapahi and Amit Chaudhary are the founders of Lenskart.
Peyush Bansal
Peyush Bansal is the CEO and founder of Valyoo Technologies, which is the parent company of Lenskart. He is a Delhi boy, it is in Delhi where he studied at Don Bosco. He aimed to crack the IIT entrance but unfortunately or fortunately he failed to do so. However, he then chooses to pursue Electrical Engineering from McGill University. In 2006, he graduated from McGill University in Canada with a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering — IT, Control, and Automation. Soon after the Founder of Lenskart has landed a job with the US software giant Microsoft. Peyush worked as a Program Manager for Microsoft for a year. When he was working with Microsoft in Seattle, he once met Bill Gates because Gates used to call the interns of his company at his house on the beach. It was this meeting that made Bansal realize that Gates has done something huge, creating Microsoft and that he doesn't want to be a part of his company where over 50K employees work and want to be an individual distinguished for the work he does. Besides, he also found out that he was bettering the lives of people who were already well off. This is why he returned to India to solve the bigger problem of vision correction and lending vision to all via Lenskart. He eventually went to pursue his PG in Management at IIM, Bangalore.
Bansal then began to found an array of Indian companies, including John Jacobs, AQUALENS and Lenskart, under which he founded Lenskart Vision Fund, Lenskart Plus, all of which focus on the niche of spectacles and lenses.
During his time at IIM, he founded Valyoo Technologies, which introduced SearchMyCampus as the first business portal in 2007. It was a student classifieds platform that included books, part-time work, carpooling, and internship opportunities in addition to housing. His motto was to help students with any problem they may have.
Peyush decided to take SearchMyCampus into the e-commerce world because it was a huge success. While looking for opportunities, he came across the eyewear market, which was largely ignored by the major e-commerce players, such as Amazon and eBay. He created Flyrr.com, a website dedicated to the American eyewear industry.
Flyrr was gaining a lot of momentum, so he decided to try his luck in India and launched Lenskart in November 2010. This new brand began by only selling contact lenses, but after a few months, it started adding eyeglasses. Finally, in March 2011, the company managed to expand its portfolio to include sunglasses, putting them in the fashion accessory category.
Lenskart Co-founder and CEO Peyush Bansal, is currently serving as one of the judges (Sharks) in the latest business reality show Shark Tank India. Popularly dubbed as the "kindest shark" in the show, Bansal is regarded for his cooperative attitude, encouraging nature, belief in brands, and umpteen motivations that he extends to the applicants. For instance, in one Shark Tank episode, Peyush Bansal offered a non-negotiable offer of Rs 25 lakhs for 75% equity and Rs 22 lakhs in debt to Sidharth from Jammu, who was mocked at and insulted by most other judges. Peyush also encouraged him by pointing out the similarities between him and Sidharth. In an episode of Shark Tank, Peyush Bansal himself took the stage and asked for Rs 1 crore investment in his business for 1% equity from the judges. He repeated the pitch that he pitched in 2010, when he was only 26 years of age, which changed the future of Lenskart. He recreated the same magic with his Lenskart pitch.
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His pitch generated mixed reactions including trolls, counter questions, and appreciation. However, his pitch undoubtedly thrilled, inspired, and motivated the Lenskart users, business professionals, present-day entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs to be and helped them discover one two many facts about the brand and the co-founder.
Sumeet Kapahi
Sumeet Kapahi studied at the University of Delhi and is now known as the co-founder of Lenskart.
Amit Chaudhary
Amit Chaudhary is another co-founder of Lenskart. Chaudhary is an alumnus of the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, from where he completed his BE, Information Technology.
Manav Makhija
Lenskart - Startup Story
Around 1/3rd of the population needs glasses but only some of them managed to get access to them. Besides, India is also popular as the blind capital of the world, which has last recorded nearly 15 million people who are blind. This is the sole reason why Peyush Bansal decided to found "VALYOO technologies."
As far as the latest revelations via the Shark Tank Peyush Bansal pitch episode, we now know that when he started with Lenskart back in 2010, he discovered that around 50% of the masses require spectacles but only 1/4th of them actually have access to glasses. This is why Bansal sought to revolutionize vision correction and put glasses on for 50% of the masses. The Lenskart co-founder aimed to make his company the "Maruti of eyewear".
With Valyoo, the team sought to add add 'valyoo' in the lives of its customers by cutting off the retailers. This way they decided to set up high-quality manufacturing units and facilitate direct supplies of products to the consumers around the country. To ensure 100% precision and top quality control, the company further recognised in-house robotic lens manufacturing and assembly as the best way. When the company started, Lenskart initially served 30 customers in a day, which soon multiplied to become 3000.
Lenskart - Mission and Vision
Lenskart's mission statement says, "Our mission is to give India a vision," as the world's fastest-growing eyewear company and largest presence online. Lenskart sells prescription eyewear, branded contact lenses, and sunglasses, all of which are personalized to the customers' vision requirements.
Lenskart - Product and Services
Lenskart has over 5000 frames and glasses to choose from, as well as over 45 different types of high-quality lenses. Its product offerings range from -
- Eyeglasses
- Premium Eyeglasses
- Sunglasses
- Shape - Wayfarer, Oval, Rounders, Cat Eye
- Size- Small, Medium and Large
- Brands - Bausch and Lomb, Johnson & Johnson, Alcon
- Color Contact Lenses, and many more.
Lenskart - Business Model
Lenskart operates on an inventory-driven business model with a B2C concept, sourcing equally from India and China. Its in-house stylists and designers keep up with the latest eyewear trends. The manufacturers are then given these designs. By controlling the entire supply chain, the company is able to keep costs down.
Lenskart has also ventured into offline stores via the franchisee model to meet the masses. It has more than 50 stores in 30 cities to reach 50 by the end of the year. Lenskart spread out its scope across metro and non-metro areas to achieve a good balance.
Lenskart currently serves 4000 people a day and plan to increase that number to 200,000 in the coming years. It has a team of nearly 1000 people to assist with this endeavor, which works across verticals such as manufacturing, eye technicians, customer care, technology, and logistics, and will continue to develop as the company grows. Lenskart is currently based on the business model where the company accepts orders on power glasses after getting the power from their customers but is now gearing up for testing power for the customers, which will be possible in the upcoming days.
Avantika Bhardwaj
Lenskart - Funding and Investors
Lenskart's recent funding round worth $220 mn came in on July 19, 2021 and was led by Temasek and Alpha Wave Global. The company previously raised $95 mn as a Secondary Market round prior to the Series G round funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund for $275 Million on December 20, 2019.
Lenskart has raised around $774 mn of funding to date, as of December 22, 2021.
The funding and investor details of Lenskart is as follows-
| Date | Round | Amount | Lead Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 19, 2021 | Series H | $220M | Alpha Wave Global and Temasek Holdings |
| May 16, 2021 | Secondary Market | $95M | Kohlberg Kravis Roberts |
| Dec 20, 2019 | Series G | $275M | SoftBank Vision Fund |
| Sep 16, 2019 | Series F | $55M | Kedaara Capital |
| Aug 7, 2018 | Secondary Market | - | Epiq Capital |
| Jan 9, 2017 | Secondary Market | ₹240M | Unilazer Ventures |
| Sep 6, 2016 | Series E | ₹2B | PremjiInvest |
| May 4, 2016 | Series D | $60.1M | - |
| Jan 2, 2015 | Series C | $21.9M | TPG, TR Capital |
| Dec 1, 2012 | Series B | $10M | - |
| Oct 1, 2011 | Series A | $4M | Chiratae Ventures |
Lenskart - Investments
| Date | Organization Name | Round | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 13, 2020 | Tango Eye | Seed Round | $500K |
| May 7, 2018 | ThinOptics | Venture Round | $500K |
| Nov 11, 2017 | 6over6 | Series A | $11M |
| Sep 23, 2017 | Ditto | Ditto | $1M |
Ashwini
Lenskart - Acquisitions
Lenskart has acquired DailyJoy on April 27, 2021, which is the only acquisition of the company.
Lenskart - Revenue and Growth
Here's an insight into Lenskart revenues:
- Lenskart's revenue grew 56% to INR 485.5 Cr in FY19 compared to INR 310.9 Cr in FY18
- In a year, Lenskart's employee compensation costs more than doubled, from INR 83.3 Cr to INR 167.4 Cr.
- Its advertisement costs increased by 71% in FY2020, from INR 64.5 crore to INR 111 crore.
- Lenskart's spending on commission paid to other selling agents increased by 248.2% or 3.4x, from INR 56.4 Cr in FY2019 to INR 196.4 Cr in FY2020.
- It received INR 473.7 crore from India in FY2019, with the remaining INR 50 lakh coming from the US and Singapore markets.
- It's worth noting that, in FY2019, Lenskart Solutions only had two stores in Singapore, but it now expects to lead the market by the end of 2021 and gain around $30 million (INR 217 crore) in revenue.
Some important growth highlights of Lenskart can be summed up as:
- Lenskart is currently recognized as one of the top 3 optical businesses in India
- The company reaches out to over 1,00,000 customers a month
- It has seen a growth of over 200% in the last 2 years
- Lenskart boasts of having over 5000 styles of eyewear, which is 5X more than that any retailers in India
Vidhi Punamiya
Lenskart - Competitors
Lenskart is up against both offline and online competitors that includes:
- GKB Opticals
- Coolwinks
- Specsmakers
- Deals4Opticals
- Lensbazaar
- Vision Express
- Titan Eyeplus
Vidhi PunamiyaLenskart - Challenges Faced
The most difficult task Lenskart faced was persuading consumers to use the online store as a substitute for traditional shopping. The business needed to shift people's preconceived notions about eyewear and instill trust in them that they offer high-quality goods at lower prices than their brick-and-mortar competitors.
Lenskart's offline shops, desktop platforms, and smartphone apps all performed admirably. However, as opposed to their other sites, the mobile website converted the fewest visitors into customers. As a result, the client used that touchpoint to guide consumers to download their mobile apps as a stopgap solution before they could devote the resources needed to fully redesign the website.
Rishabh Rathi
Lenskart - Future Plans
Lenskart India's vision, "Vision to India," aims to reach the masses by developing a low-cost franchise model. Lenskart Lite is a model that will help them introduce the framework in Tier 3 and 4 cities, as well as expand their presence in Tier 2 cities. It also introduced regular contact lenses that can be quickly discarded. Lenskart's goal is to provide affordable and simple eyewear solutions with the aid of their Aqualens product. It would be extremely affordable to the daily masses who want both trends and costs at just Rs.40 per day.
The main aim of Lenskart India is to close the distance between selected and unselected lenses, and the company expects to open more than 500 stores in the next two years. It aims to have 2,000 stores open by the end of the next five years.
Lenskart - FAQs
What does Lenskart do?
Lenskart is a leading e-commerce company that creates an online optical store that sells a variety of eyewear. Customers will get the new eye-wear collections with free home delivery through the company's marketplace, which offers prescription eyewear, branded contact lenses, sunglasses, and accessories.
Who founded Lenskart?
Peyush Bansal, Amit Chaudhary and Sumeet Kapahi founded Lenskart.
What companies do Lenskart compete with?
Lenskart is up against both offline and online competitors. GKB Opticals, Coolwinks, Specsmakers, Deals4Opticals, Lensbazaar, Vision Express, and Titan Eyeplus are some of its key competitors.
What is Lenskart gold membership?
Lenskart gold membership is a program that allows you to get a free pair of glasses every time you buy a pair of Eyeglasses or Sunglasses at Lenskart until your gold membership is still valid.
Source :- https://startuptalky.com/ Author :- Sarika Anand Date :- February 09, 2022 at 12:54PM