With Tech First Attitude, Lenskart is Looking to Invest in Early-stage Eye-tech Startups In the last one year, Lenskart has invested in three such early-stage startups
By Vanita D'souza •
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In order to improve its customer experiences with the help of futuristic technology and products, Lenskart earlier this week said it is keen to invest around USD 3mn in eye-tech early-stage startups globally.
Reports quoted Peyush Bansal, founder and CEO of Lenskart saying the nature of company doesn't matter as the idea to collaborate with these startups to develop innovative products.
In the last one year, Lenskart has invested in three such early-stage startups such as US-based Ditto, an augmented reality startup. Ditto helped Lenskart to launch its 3-D Try on the feature, wherein people can click their picture and try various frames from the e-store and cancelling the need to visit an actual store.
While the second company is 6over6, an Israel-based startup that allows people to use their Android phones to examine spectacle's power. You don't have to go anywhere to get the number of your glasses, with this app one can check that at home. Lenskart pumped USD 1m each in these early-stage companies.
The third and latest entrant in Lenskart's kitty is ThinOptics. The e-commerce platform eye wears invested around USD 0.5m in ThinOptics which manufactures unique reading glasses that attached to one's smartphones, wallets or keychains.
Discussing the deal, Bansal in a statement said, "ThinOptics is a revolutionary product that solves the problem of people forgetting to carry their reading glasses everywhere and often losing them too. At Lenskart, our vision is to revolutionise eyewear and, hence, this investment fits that vision."
In fact, Lenskart is working with the startup since 2015 and has been selling ThinOptics to Indian consumers for the last few months, and the response has been phenomenal, the entrepreneur added.
The NCR-based startup will continue to work ThinOptics' California to bringing more innovations in eye-tech space while latter is planning to use this investment to evolve their portfolio and launch new products in the market.
Apart from improving its online presence and complementing innovative products to sustain its growth in the Indian market, Lenskart is also investing heavily in its offline business. Presently, the e-retailer has around 415 stores pan India.
During a previous interview, with the Entrepreneur India, Bansal, also said whether the company runs online or offline they will continue to be a tech-focused company.
"The idea is to use technology to deliver an omnichannel experience to consumers," he commented.
Started in 2010, Lenskart has raised more than USD 110m from investors like Premji Invest, Ronnie Screwvala, IFC, TPG Growth, and Adveq. The company reported it was EDITA profitable since the end of 2017.
