Abu Dhabi Investment Authority invests $500 mn in eyewear unicorn Lenskart

• Eyewear unicorn Lenskart has signed a definitive agreement with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).
• Abu Dhabi Investment Authority invests $500 mn.

Omnichannel eyewear unicorn Lenskart has signed a definitive agreement with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) to raise $500 million from the authority.

The investment is an extension to last year's funding round, helping Lenskart maintain its $4.5 billion valuation.

The company said that the capital will be deployed to deepen its presence in Asia and the Middle East.

ADIA's investment includes some secondary purchase of shares from some early backers of Lenskart.

The eyewear company has so far raised $1.5 billion in primary and secondary rounds, according to reports.

Founded in 2010, Lenskart ships over 10 million pairs of eyewear every year and has over 20 million app downloads, 300 home eye test representatives as well as over 1,100 stores across India, Singapore, and Dubai, the company said last year.

Lenskart is backed by Falcon Edge Capital, SoftBank, KKR, Temasek, Premji Invest and Kedaara Capital, among others.

In June last year, the eyewear unicorn took a majority stake in Japanese eyewear brand Owndays in a deal that was reportedly around $400 million.

This took the merged firm to reach 13 markets in Asia including India, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan.

The company said it will continue its rapid expansion in India and South East Asia to serve the mass to mid-premium segments.

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