Lenskart backs location AI startup GeoIQ

Bengaluru-based hyperlocal performance prediction startup GeoIQ has raised $2.25 million from Lenskart, along with its existing investors : 9Unicorns and Ecosystem Ventures. 

The fresh funding will allow the location AI firm to expand into international geographies, strengthen its proprietary data stack and leverage communities of data scientists to build diverse AI models. 

According to Lenskart, it will be opening more omni-channel stores globally with 50% better return on invested capital and 5 times the speed of a normal opening with the help of GeoIQ’s technology. “Through this funding, we also want to help facilitate GeoIQ’s ambition of becoming a world class geo-analytics company in the long run,” said Peyush Bansal, co-founder and CEO of Lenskart.

Founded by Devashish Fuloria, Tushneet Shrivastava and Ankita Thakur, GeoIQ utilizes proprietary algorithms to layer government data with other 600 trusted public sources and satellite imagery into generating 100m x 100m geospatial grids. 

The company’s AI layer uses these data points to predict user behaviours, affluence and business potential at an address or latitude and longitude.

On Monday, Neso Brands, a subsidiary of omnichannel eyewear brand Lenskart, raised $100 million in one of the largest seed rounds for any startup. According to the startup, KKR, Softbank, Alpha Wave Global and Temasek were the investors in the round.