Lenskart IPO: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – Outlook Business

Eyewear company Lenskart is in the midst of one of the most anticipated public offers this year.

Founded in 2008, the company has grown at a rapid pace to over 2,000 retail stores in India and a valuation of $7.7 billion. Its showrooms prominently stand out as a rare new-age brand in urban centres.

According to reports, Lenskart’s early and growth stage investors like SoftBank, Kedaara Capital, KKR, Premji Invest and Temasek are expected to clock multibagger returns in the IPO.

However, as has been the case with a raft of new-age public issues in the past few years like Zomato, MamaEarth, Paytm, Ola Electric and others, there’s no dearth of market watchers and analysts who find the IPO valuation eye-watering.

A comment by an X user summed up the sentiment: “₹70,000 crore for 2,600 stores,  that’s ₹27 crore per outlet. Bhai, yeh chashme bech rahe hain ya diamond lenses (are they selling lenses made of diamond)?” Another noted that ‘if Peyush Bansal pitched Lenskart’s valuation to Shark Tank’s Peyush Bansal, he’d get rejected.”