Lenskart Gears Up for IPO with New Board Appointments
• Ashish Kashyap (INDmoney) and Sayali Karanjkar (PaySense) join Lenskart's board as independent directors.
• SoftBank’s Sumer Juneja steps down from board ahead of Lenskart’s IPO.
• IPO prep includes Rs 2,150 Cr fundraise and new ESOP 2025 rollout for senior leadership.
SoftBank executive Sumer Juneja has resigned from the board of Lenskart, the top omnichannel eye wear retailer preparing for its public listing.
During its Annual General Meeting on July 26, Lenskart shareholders voted in favor of the appointment of two new independent directors Ashish Kashyap, a founder at INDmoney and ex-CEO of Ibibo Group, and Sayali Karanjkar, co-founder at digital lending platform PaySense. The appointments are a part of the company's overall strategy to align with public market governance norms as it prepares for its IPO.
The two new directors have strong entrepreneurial and operational backgrounds. Karanjkar, whose startup PaySense was acquired by PayU in 2020, has also been the leader of ElasticRun and has been on the boards of MobiKwik and CMS Info Systems. She actively invests in fintech and SaaS companies such as Kiwi, Scapia, Xflow, Nimbbl, and Inai. Kashyap, who has spent more than 25 years in the tech ecosystem, has been a leader at Google and Times Internet, as well as having founded and scaled several ventures.
The new board consists of co-founders Peyush Bansal, Neha Bansal, and Amit Chaudhary, along with industry stalwarts like Jayesh Merchant (former CFO, Asian Paints), Bijou Kurien (former COO, Titan; former board member, L Catterton Asia), and Anant Gupta (Partner, Kedaara Capital).
Part of the IPO planning, Lenskart has also rolled out ESOP 2025, a fresh employee stock ownership plan with 72.8 lakh options, representing approximately 0.43% of the fully diluted equity. Out of these, 21.84 lakh options are for senior leaders at and above general manager level. The options will vest on both performance and tenure, and span the entire group of Lenskart along with its subsidiaries.
Shareholders have also sanctioned a new equity raise of Rs 2,150 crore (~$250 million) as part of the company's forthcoming IPO.
Started in 2008, Lenskart currently has 2,000+ retail stores spread across India and overseas. The company had last been valued at $6.1 billion, after investor Fidelity gave it a valuation boost in April. Its noted backers are Temasek, SoftBank, Fidelity, ADIA, Alpha Wave Global, KKR, and TPG.
