SoftBank Vision Fund II is now in action. The fund has made an investment of $231 million (Rs 1,645 crore) in eyewear startup Lenskart, reports Economic Times. Interestingly, Lenskart is predominantly an offline retail venture with an online presence.
This is the first investment SoftBank has made with this new fund in India. It has made only one other investment from the SoftBank Vision Fund II and that was overseas. SoftBank was laying low on its investments after the WeWork issue it faced some months before. It had to pause to get the funding for its second fund under slightly altered financial conditions.
The board of directors at Lenskart Solutions has passed a resolution allotting 22.9 million shares in the company to SVF II (Cayman Islands) Lightbulb. These are Series G compulsorily convertible cumulative preference shares at Rs 714 per share. Lenskart will now be valued at $1.5 billion.
Lenskart has posted a net loss of Rs 27.89 crore for the year 2018-19 as against a loss of Rs 118 crore and the company’s revenue stood at Rs 86.26 crore in the fiscal 2018-19.
The company has ventured overseas with opening a store in Singapore. The last time the eyewear company raised funds was a round three months back when it received $55 million from Kedaara Capital. The investor is now interested in buying more shares through the secondary sale route it is learnt.
Some of the other investors in Lenskart include Unilazer Ventures floated by Ronnie Screwvala, TR Capital, TPG Growth, IFC (investment arm of World Bank) Chiratae Ventures, Steadview Capital, PremjiInvest and asset management firm Adveq Management.
On future prospects for the company, it is reported that the eyewear sector in India is worth $10 billion. The contribution by multi-store operators is estimated to be only $350-$450 million. This might change if Lenskart is able to scale up its revenue in the coming years.
Meanwhile, SoftBank Vision Fund II is trying to raise funds and the targeted investors are reported to be Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp and Foxconn Technology. The SVF I had a massive fund of $100 billion at its disposal.