Peyush Bansal led top eyewear retailer Lenskart Solutions Limited is targeting a post-money valuation of around Rs 70,000 crore ($7.97 bn) for its proposed initial public offer (IPO) at the higher end of the price band, multiple industry sources in the know told Moneycontrol.
The firm, which is backed by marquee investors like Softbank, ADIA and Temasek will file its red herring prospectus shortly and plans to launch the issue for public subscription on Oct 31, November 3 and November 4 with the anchor portion slated for October 30, these industry sources added. These dates may move by a day depending on the approval from the RoC, they warned.
To be sure, November 1 and November 2 fall on a weekend.
Due to pre-IPO rounds, the OFS or offer for sale portion may be trimmed and the final combined size of the issue may fall between Rs 7,250 crore ($826 mn) to Rs 7,350 crore ($837 mn), sources elaborated to Moneycontrol.
"There is strong demand for this issue and the anchor book is expected to have top domestic as well as global investors, " they said.
An email query to Lenskart remained unanswered at the time of publishing this article. This article will be updated as soon as we hear from the firm.
As per the draft red herring prospectus filed back in July, the eyewear major is looking to raise Rs 2,150 crore through a fresh issuance while promoters and investors are looking to offload 13.22 crore equity shares.
On October 24, Moneycontrol had reported that billionaire investor Radhakishan Damani, founder of Avenue Supermarts (DMart), and SBI Mutual Fund are each likely to invest around Rs 100 crore in the firm.
Earlier on October 14, Moneycontrol had reported that Lenskart was expected to file its RHP in the week of October 22 and list on the stock exchanges no later than November 12.
The report had also alluded to the grey market valuations of the firm, one of the few profitable internet-led consumer players heading for a listing.
Kotak Mahindra Capital, Citi, Axis Capital, Avendus Capital, Morgan Stanley, and Intensive Fiscal Services are the i-banks working on the deal as per the draft papers. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas is the legal counsel to the company under Indian law, the draft papers added.
The Lenskart strategy
Of the Rs 2,150 crore in fresh proceeds, Rs 272.6 crore will go towards 620 new company-owned company-operated (CoCo) stores in India by FY29, while Rs 591.4 crore has been earmarked for lease deposits for its existing CoCo outlets.
The company will also invest Rs 213.4 crore in technology and cloud infrastructure, with plans to enhance AI-led fulfillment and robotic lens labs. A sum of Rs 320 crore has been set aside towards brand marketing and business promotion.
Lenskart reported a net profit of Rs 297.3 crore in FY25, compared to a loss of Rs 10.2 crore in FY24.
Revenues rose by 23 percent YoY to Rs 6,652.5 crore, with a CAGR of 33 percent over the last two years. Gross margins improved by over 500 basis points to around 69 percent, driven by operating efficiencies and scale.
The Lenskart footprint
As per its DRHP, the firm has 2,723 stores of which 2,067 are in India and 656 are overseas, fuelled by buyouts in Japan and Europe.
Around 60 percent of Lenskart’s revenues come from India and the remaining comes from regions outside, reflecting the company’s diversification to other geographies.
The eyewear retailer said it plans to add 450 stores in FY26 to expand its footprint.
According to the company, robotic lens labs, centralized supply chain, and growing AI-led fulfilment operations have allowed it to enable Next Day Delivery in 40 cities.
Founded in 2008, Lenskart's other investors include KKR, Alpha Wave, TPG, and Kedaara Capital.
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