Nov 5, 2024

Fidelity marks up Lenskart valuation by 12% to $5.6 billion SECTIONS By Rate Story Synopsis This comes months after Fidelity, along with Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek, had invested $200 million in Lenskart through a secondary transaction valuing the Gurgaon-based company at $5 billion. ETtech Lenskart’s founder and CEO Peyush Bansal at the ET Startup Awards 2024 in Bengaluru A fund managed by US-based financial services major Fidelity has marked up the valuation of omnichannel eyewear retailer Lenskart to $5.6 billion, reflecting a 12% increase of the company’s fair value in its books. According to a monthly update on its portfolio holdings published by Fidelity, the latest valuation of Lenskart is as of September 30. Crossover funds such as Fidelity, which invest both in publicly-traded and privately-held companies, periodically review the valuation of their portfolio companies. The fair value is ascertained on the basis of a number of factors, including market conditions and performance of comparable peers. For the ongoing financial year, Lenskart has hit an annual revenue run rate of $1 billion, ET had reported last month. This was among the largest secondary transactions at a late-stage startup this year. In a secondary share sale , money changes hands between investors and does not go to the company. In March 2023, Lenskart had raised $600 million in total from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and ChrysCapital amid a protracted funding winter for tech startups. Of this, $450 million was in secondary share sale, which allowed existing investors such as SoftBank and Chiratae Ventures to partially sell their stake in the company. This round valued Lenskart at $4.5 billion. Lenskart’s founder and CEO Peyush Bansal had told ET in an interview in October that the company is planning to invest $200 million in its new manufacturing unit in southern India Lenskart bagged the top honours at The Economic Times Startup Awards 2024, winning the coveted Startup of the Year—being recognised by an elite jury for its success in building a fast-growing, large-scale, omnichannel consumer retail venture while creating an entirely new category. When asked if Lenskart is also planning an IPO next year, Bansal had said the company was in no rush to go public. In July this year, Bansal, along with other Lenskart founders Neha Bansal, Amit Choudhary and Sumeet Kapahi invested almost $20 million in the eyewear company. Read More News on