TPG Growth, IDG, and Unilazer Ventures dilute stake worth $75 Mn in Lenskart

TPG Growth, Ronnie Screwvala-led Unilazer Ventures, and IDG Ventures India have sold part of their stakes in eyewear retailer Lenskart in a secondary transaction deal.

While existing investor TR Capital upped its stake in the Delhi based firm, two new investors such as Hong Kong-based hedge fund Steadview Capital and tech-focused investment firm Epiq Capital also participated in the deal.

According to estimates, the transaction is believed to be in the range of $70-75 million, whereas the valuation of the company touches Rs 3400 crore, reports ET.

The report further added that TR Capital is believed to have shelled out an estimated $40 million this time around. TR Capital’s stake post the deal is yet to be ascertained.

On the other hand, IDG Venture has been a diluting its stake in Lenskart and it reportedly earned about $50 million from the secondary transaction.

Commenting on the deal, the company’s CEO Peyush Bansal said that Lenskart has turned profitable, and it has been a promising firm for investors.

This is the second such instance of secondary share sells for the company. Earlier in March, TR Capital increased its stake into Lenskart nu acquiring shares from TPG Growth and Unilazer Alternative Ventures LLP.

After the completion of the deal, TR Capital, which has been an active shareholder of Lenskart since 2013 holds a stake of over 10 per cent in Lenskart.

Established in 2010, the company has raised over $100 million from investors including Ratan Tata, IFC (venture capital arm of the World Bank) and Kris Gopalakrishnan (Infosys co-founder), among others.

Apart from online sales, Lenskart has over 410 stores and claims to ship 3,00,000 eyewear units per month.

The company has been an active investor in eyewear technologies and bet upon several overseas startups such as US-based Ditto, ThinOptics and Israel’s Tel Aviv-based startup 6over6 in last 18 months.

In May, it had also announced to set aside about $2-3 million to further invest in such startups.