D2C start-up Neso Brands raises $100 million in seed round

In a seed funding round, Lenskart's subsidiary firm, Neso Brands, a D 2 C start-up, has raised $100 million in a seed funding round, making it the largest seed fund-raise in the start-up ecosystem. The new funds infusion in Lenskart's subsidiary Neso Brands was led by KKR, SoftBank, Alpha Wave Global and Temasek.

Lenskart raised 760 crore or nearly $100 million in a new funding round from Alpha Wave Ventures last month, which is the latest announcement from Alpha Wave Ventures. The filings stated that this was a Series-I round with the issuance of 36,41, 646 series shares at Rs 2087.52 per share to raise Rs 760 crore. D 2 C start-up 10 club, an e-commerce brand rollup venture, had earlier reported as having raised the largest seed funding round at $40 million in June of last year.

Lenskart s CEO Peyush Bansal had earlier stated that he would bet big on international expansion as well as acquisition of vertical brands ahead of a likely IPO.

Neso Brands is Singapore-headquartered and will partner and invest in consumer eyewear brands around the world and grow these brands by leveraging synergies across the Lenskart Group to accelerate international expansion.

Neso Brands has also announced the appointment of Bjorn Bergstrom as CEO. Bergstrom has vast experience in management consulting, venture capital, and consumer scale-ups.

Bergstorm was previously serving as the Chief Growth Officer and interim Chief Product Technology Officer for the global fashion brand NA-KD. Bergstrom had prior experience as a venture capital investor, focusing on early-stage growth start-ups, management consulting and operational roles at consumer start-ups.

There is a perfect storm in the eyewear industry that makes it ripe for disruption. Consumers are increasingly demanding when it comes to customer experience, branding, and choice, but incumbent players are unable to keep up. Neso Brands will be uniquely positioned to scale the eyewear brands of the future, by investing in the most promising new brands in the industry and leveraging centraliaed resources across technology, manufacturing and distribution. Bergstorm said in a statement that I am very excited to lead the company on this journey and working closely with our investors and partners.

Eyewear is a very traditional industry with large incumbents, but it is now ripe for a tech-enabled global transformation. With the adoption of e-commerce and technologies such as AR and AI becoming more mature, the time has come for nimble eyewear brands to capitalise on these trends and capture market share. Neso Brands will allow the brands access to shared resources, including technology, supply chain, distribution, capital and best practices, according to a company handout.

With investment in Neso Brands, we want to accelerate our mission to change the way people see and experience the world. Consumers want better and better every day, and while the quality of life is uplifted through all other lifestyle products, such as shoes, apparel and wearables, eyewear products are the same old with no innovation, just more expensive. It is our firm belief that eyewear brands of today will not be brands of the future. Peyush Bansal, CEO, Peyush Bansal, said that Neso is our initiative to partner with founders around the world to create eyewear brands of the future.