Prescription glasses company Lenskart, backed by Softbank, has acquired a majority stake in Japanese D2C eyewear brand Owndays. This will take the company’s reach to 13 markets, including India, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Japan, and make them one of the largest players in Asia’s online eyewear segment.
With this deal, Lenskart will give an exit to Owndays major shareholders L Catterton Asia and Mitsui & Co., Principal Investments. Owndays co-founders, CEO Shuji Tanaka, and COO, Take Umiyama, will continue to be shareholders and lead the company’s management team. According to a Bloomberg report, the deal values Owndays at $400 million.
Lenskart has 300 people in its engineering team and is estimated to scale it up to 500 people in FY23. It will help build a stronger online and omni experience for Owndays, said the company in a media release. Lenskart has also been investing in strengthening supply chain integration and automation, which will now be leveraged by both the brands to further enhance customer proposition and unit economics.
Lenskart will continue its rapid expansion in India and Southeast Asia to serve the mass to mid-premium segments while Owndays scales to cater to premium segments.
