Lenskart founder Peyush Bansal close to entering billionaire club as company targets IPO next month: Report

The IPO will value the eyewear company at $9 billion, depending on the IPO size, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter and calculations from the prospectus.

Bansal founded Lenskart Solutions Ltd over 15 years ago with partners he met on LinkedIn and nurtured it into a multi-billion-dollar business.

At 41 years old, the entrepreneur and Indian television star is in line for a windfall.

The valuation of the company would take his stake close to $800 million after selling a small portion of his shares in the IPO.

His stock value could exceed $1 billion if Lenskart shares swell about 25 percent on opening.

A comeback for founder-led ventures

Peyush Bansal’s journey to taking Lenskart public reflects a renewed sense of investor faith in founder-driven startups, following a phase when India’s most prominent tech firms faced funding squeezes and survival struggles, Bloomberg noted.

The eyewear company has built a strong niche by deploying robotic manufacturing in India, using precision machines imported from Germany, and an online platform that allows customers to virtually try and purchase products with ease.

With a vast home market as its base, Lenskart is now rapidly scaling across Southeast Asia.

Bansal notes that consumer trends in Indonesia and Vietnam are now echoing those seen in India about ten years ago.

“India is the myopia capital of the world, and a lot of our people need glasses,” Bansal said in an interview in Mumbai. “If we can solve that, everything else, including scale, profit and rising market capitalization, will follow.”

Unlike several Indian startups that went public without profitability, Bansal stresses that Lenskart has already turned profitable.

The Gurugram-based company—which designs, manufactures and retails eyewear through both digital and physical outlets—reported its first full-year profit in the financial year ended March 31.

Riding on popularity

Beyond business, Bansal enjoys widespread recognition as a judge on the Indian version of Shark Tank, where his presence has helped him amass over 900,000 Instagram followers.

He attributes his business success to a mix of persistence and timing, joking that he and co-founder Amit Chaudhary spend one day every week ideating on new ventures.

“Our hit rate is about 50 percent,” he said. “A coin toss might have worked just as well.”

This year, Bansal has had to navigate a challenging global climate marked by trade tensions, geopolitical uncertainty, and cautious investors.

While India remains one of the world’s largest startup ecosystems, many firms have seen valuations slump as investors turn sceptical about growth prospects.

Tech billionaire Narayana Murthy’s family office recently noted that several funds are offloading stakes at steep discounts.

Oyo Hotels—another SoftBank-backed company like Lenskart—once commanded a $10 billion valuation in 2019 before seeing a sharp correction, the report said.

Long-term backers

Lenskart’s appeal lies in its steady growth model and the patience of its investors.

SoftBank, which holds around 15 percent of the company, has described its investment as an example of “patient capital” that is willing to wait decades for compounding returns.

Earlier this year, Fidelity Management & Research valued the firm at $6.1 billion.

The upcoming IPO will gauge whether the recent resurgence of investor interest in India’s consumer-tech stocks has lasting strength.

The stellar debut of Urban Co. last month—with shares surging 62 percent on opening day—revived hopes after several underwhelming listings had dampened enthusiasm.

Still, one major vulnerability remains: Lenskart sources over a third of its frames, moulds and raw materials from China. Bansal acknowledges this reliance but calls it manageable. However, any disruption in Chinese supply chains—through tariffs or export restrictions—could weigh on margins.

Expanding capacity

To reduce that dependence, Bansal is overseeing the construction of a massive new manufacturing complex in Hyderabad, spread over 50 acres, which is set to become the world’s largest eyewear facility, capable of producing hundreds of thousands of glasses each day.

An engineering graduate from McGill University in Montreal, Bansal began his career at Microsoft in the U.S. before returning to India to pursue entrepreneurship.

His first startup, focused on student housing, eventually gave way to a broader mission in vision care.

From a small Faridabad office, he and three co-founders he connected with on LinkedIn built what is now Lenskart.

Today, the company manages nearly every stage of its value chain—from lens design and production to last-mile delivery.

It employs hundreds of ophthalmologists in Kolkata for remote eye consultations and is developing AI-driven eye-testing tools to expand into smaller towns with limited access to optometrists.

Eyeing the next frontier

Proceeds from the IPO will be channelled into opening new stores across India, enhancing AI and tech capabilities, pursuing acquisitions, and meeting general corporate needs, according to regulatory filings.

As of March, Lenskart operated 2,723 stores across India, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, with nearly 40 percent of its revenue generated from international markets.

Its next innovation focus is smart eyewear. A dedicated 70-member team is developing models with built-in UPI payment systems, AI tools, cameras, and headphones.

“It’s tempting to go all in,” Bansal said. “But timing matters.”