Lenskart is a tech-enabled prescription glasses company that has a majority stake in Japanese D 2 C eyewear brand OWNDAYS. The acquisition will help to build the largest omnichannel eyewear business in Asia, the companies said in a statement. It will cover 13 markets in Asia, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia and Japan, as per the Lenskart release on June 30.
OWNDAYS co- founders Shuji Tanaka and COO Take Umiyama will continue to be shareholders and lead the management team of OWNDAYS, which will continue to operate as a separate brand. Major shareholders of OWNDAYS, L Catterton Asia, Mitsui Co and Principal Investments will leave their positions to Lenskart.
SoftBank-backed Lenskart is estimated to be able to scale up to 500 people in FY 23, which will help build a stronger online and omnichannel experience for OWNDAYS. The Peyush Bansal-driven tech-enabled eyewear brand will continue its rapid expansion in India and South East Asia to serve the mass to mid-premium segments as OWNDAYS scales quickly to cater to premium segments.
Peyush Bansal, Lenskart's co-founder and group CEO, said that Lenskart and OWNDAYS share the same set of values centered around enriching customers lives, caring for people in our communities, as well as continuous learning, and we also have very complementary skill sets. We have a lot to achieve, and it will be greater than the sum of its parts. OWNDAYS founder and CEO Shuji Tanaka said, "I believe that digital transformation is the key to our next phase of growth in the post-pandemic operating environment and I am excited to partner with LENSKART, which has deep expertise and intellectual capital in the information technology field. We believe that the combination of OWNDAYS and LENSKART will bring about an abundance of innovation that will revolutionize the eyewear industry to the benefit of people across the world.