Omnichannel retailer Lenskart has acquired a majority stake in Japanese eyewear brand Owndays to become the region’s largest Omni-channel eyewear business by taking it to 13 markets in Asia including India, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Japan.
Reportedly, the deal is said to be $400 million. But, the company did not disclose details of the deal.
In a press statement, the company said that Owndays’ Co-founders, CEO Shuji Tanaka, and COO Take Umiyama, will continue to be shareholders and lead the management team while the brand will continue operating independently.
The current major shareholders of the Japanese retailer including L Catterton Asia and Mitsui & Co., Principal Investment will exit.
Peyush Bansal, Co-Founder, and Group CEO at Lenskart said, “With OWNDAYS we move a step closer to democratizing eyewear. I have known Shuji-san and Take-san for over five years and have been an admirer of the disruptive brand and customer experience they have built with OWNDAYS. To bring about a revolutionary change such as the one the world needs in eyewear, we need to work with like-minded and complementary founders.”
Earlier in May, Neso Brands, a roll-up subsidiary of eyewear retailer Lenskart, raised $100 million from KKR, Softbank, Alpha Wave Global and Temasek. Lenskart has been one of the early unicorns in the Direct-to-consumer space and is currently valued at $4.3 billion.
Lenkskart currently has 300 people in its engineering team, and aims to scale up to 500 people in FY23. It has also been investing in deeper supply chain integration and automation which will now be leveraged by both the brands to further enhance customer proposition and unit economics.
