Lenskart raises $4 million VC funding from IDG Ventures India
New Delhi, October 31, 2011: Valyoo Technologies Pvt Ltd, which runs the leading eyewear e-commerce site Lenskart.com, has raised $4 million in the first round of funding from IDG Ventures India. Lenskart.com is India’s first and only online portal selling prescription eyewear. Valyoo Technologies has also successfully launched Watchkart.com and Bagskart.com in the last few months. IDG Ventures India is a $150 million leading technology venture capital fund in India. As part of the investment, TC Meenakshisundaram and Venkatesh Peddi have joined Valyoo’s Board of Directors as nominees of IDG Ventures India.Lenskart.com is the clear leader in selling eyewear online in India, with product range across prescription eyewear, branded contact lenses and sunglasses, all equipped with the customers’ eye power. Watchkart.com and Bagskart.com are demonstrating fast traction with the potential of becoming leaders in their categories.
Already delivering to 450 cities across India, Valyoo will use the funds for scaling up product range, marketing activities and building superior customer centric services through phone and on-line chat. “A huge range with all sizes and colors and the ability to get them at a standard price next day at the customer’s doorstep is what we are aiming to achieve. We strongly believe in an approach of educating the customers and helping them choose the right product online. Also, offline space is extremely unorganised in our product categories, where the selling price of a product is determined by the financial status of the buyer, we want to bridge this gap and create disintermediation in the market,” says 27-year-old Peyush Bansal, founder and CEO, Lenskart.com. The company is in the process of setting up a training facility for customer executives.
Commenting on this new investment TC Meenakshisundaram, Founder and Managing Director, IDG Ventures India Advisors, said: “IDG Ventures India helps entrepreneurs build category-leading companies in India and globally. We believe Valyoo’s focus on creating category leaders in product segments that offer disintermediation opportunities by leveraging supply chain inefficiencies and bring value to the customers is a big differentiator. Valyoo’s young and passionate team with deep domain knowledge and strong customer focus will give it an edge to succeed in the crowded e-commerce sector.”
One-third of Indian population needs vision correction and only 25% of them use eyeglasses today. With unmatched variety and prices, which will not be available in the neighbourhood eyewear retailers, LensKart makes it possible for the consumers to acquire high quality eyewear with prescription lenses starting from Rs 250. With an average of 72-hour free-home-delivery time and a 14-day no-questions-asked return policy, the customer can just click and order their perfect pair of eyewear, contacts, watches and bags without worry.
Lenskart.com was started in November 2010 and has been growing revenues exponentially. “We started with a modest four-member team. Today, we have about 50 employees. With the investment from IDG Ventures India, we hope to grow our monthly revenue many-fold in the next six months,” said the young entrepreneur Mr. Bansal. The company is already selling several branded eyewear and watches such as Timex, Citizen, Guess, FCUK, Fossil, Being Human and is in active discussion to engage with many other leading brands. Its range of bags includes varied styles like ladies’ handbags, clutches, laptop bags, men’s wallets, belts etc.
