Lenskart files IPO papers for ₹2,150 crore fresh issue

India’s biggest eyewear retailer, Lenskart, has filed draft papers for an initial public offering (IPO) that includes a fresh issue of ₹2,150 crore.

The IPO will see Lenskart promoters and investors offloading 132.3 million shares. The selling shareholders include Japanese investor SoftBank, Mumbai-based private equity firm Kedaara Capital, Singapore's state-owned investor Temasek, Alpha Wave Ventures and promoters Peyush Bansal, Neha Bansal, Amit Chaudhary and Sumeet Kapahi.

The startup, founded in 2010 by Bansal, Chaudhary and Kapahi, operates 2,723 stores worldwide, of which 2,067 were in India and 656 were overseas as of March 31, 2025. It competes with Titan Eyeplus, GKB Opticals, Lawrence and Mayo, Specsmakers Opticians and several other unorganised players in the market.

Lenskart, which sells its own brands such as Vincent Chase and John Jacobs, among others, sold 27.20 million eyewear units across the markets it operates in FY25.

India’s eyewear market is heavily underpenetrated. Of the expected 600 million Indians who require glasses, only about 200 million are using them. Inadequate eye tests, lack of flexible eye testing options and general awareness has hindered market expansion. According to Redseer, 70% of prescription eyewear sales happened through unorganised channels as of financial year 2024-2025.

Lenskart owns and operates manufacturing facilities in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan and Gurugram, Haryana. It also has plants in Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. Lenskart also operates a facility for manufacturing of frames in the People’s Republic of China through its joint venture, Baofeng Framekart Technology Ltd.

Lenskart's revenue from operations was ₹6,652 crore for FY25, up from ₹5,427 crore in FY24. The Peyush Bansal-led startup clocked a profit of ₹297 crore in FY25 compared with a loss of ₹10 crore in the previous fiscal.

In 2024, IPO-bound Lenskart was valued at $5 billion after it raised $200 million in secondary investment from Singapore’s state-owned investment giant Temasek and U.S.-based Fidelity. Lenskart was valued at $4.5 billion when it raised $500 million from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) in 2023.

Omnichannel startup Lenskart operates both brick-and-mortar stores and has an online direct-to-consumer retail channel as well.

Speaking on the sidelines of Startup Mahakumbh earlier this year, Bansal had said that with the advent of social media and the rise of quick commerce, the very concept of omnichannel itself is problematic, as it is the mobile user—hence a potential consumer—who is going omni, not the channels.

"Omnichannel is merely a buzzword today, and it comes with its own problem. The customer is an omni-customer, not the channel," said Bansal.

Bansal noted that while investors and the market use conventional definitions of omnichannel presence, and reporting standards align with that view, these remain flawed parameters for measuring success. He argued that investors should instead focus on financials and repeat customers.