SBI Mutual Fund has invested ₹100 crore in Lenskart Solutions Ltd in a pre-IPO deal that pegs the eyewear retailer’s valuation at about $7.7 billion, setting the tone for one of the year’s most closely watched public listings. The transaction, disclosed in regulatory filings, follows a ₹90-crore pre-IPO pickup by billionaire Radhakishan Damani earlier this month, underscoring deep domestic appetite for the omnichannel brand as it heads to the public markets.
The deal: who bought, from whom, and at what price
SBI MF executed the purchase through two alternative investment funds, SBI Optimal Equity Fund and SBI Emergent Fund, acquiring 24.87 lakh shares at ₹402 per share.
The shares were bought off-market from promoter Neha Bansal, taking the total consideration to ₹100 crore. The implied valuation, derived from the deal price, puts Lenskart near $7.7 billion, a step up from the $6.1 billion mark recorded in an April 2025 portfolio update by a global investor.
IPO timeline and structure
Lenskart opens its anchor book today (October 29), followed by the public offer from October 30 to November 4. The company plans to raise ₹2,150 crore via a fresh issue, alongside an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 12.76 crore shares by existing shareholders.
The selling roster spans founder & CEO Peyush Bansal, SVF II Lightbulb (SoftBank), Kedaara Capital, ChrysCapital’s PI Opportunities Fund II, KKR’s MacRitchie Investments, and Alpha Wave Ventures.
Use of proceeds (fresh issue): store expansion, lease and rental payments, technology and digital infrastructure, brand marketing, and potential acquisitions, to be deployed over the next three years. Proceeds from the OFS will go directly to the selling shareholders.
Financial trajectory: back to black, scaling up
Lenskart reported a net profit of ₹297 crore in FY25, reversing a ₹10 crore loss in FY24, as revenues rose 23% YoY to ₹6,652 crore.
Momentum has carried into the new fiscal: Q1 FY26 profit stood at ₹61.2 crore on revenue of ₹1,894.5 crore, with EBITDA at ₹336.6 crore versus ₹183.4 crore a year earlier, reflecting better cost control and stronger sales across India and international markets.
Reading the tea leaves: three things to watch
- Anchor response and pricing discipline: Today’s anchor allocation will set the tone for book quality and pricing through the week. Strong anchor participation typically compresses listing volatility and can guide institutional demand.
- OFS supply vs. float quality: With multiple large financial investors selling, the free float will improve, but the market will parse who stays on the cap table and how that shapes post-listing overhang.
- Execution against the capex plan: The company’s outlined use of proceeds, stores, tech, brand, acquisitions, speaks to both offline footprint densification and digital moat-building. Delivery against these milestones will be central to sustaining premium multiples.
Competitive context
The eyewear category in India remains under-penetrated relative to other consumer health segments, with structural tailwinds from rising screen time, greater fashionization of frames, and higher insurance penetration.
Lenskart’s hybrid model, online discovery, private-label mix, and expanding offline network, has historically allowed gross-margin defense while lowering customer acquisition costs through repeat purchases and optical services. Investors will track whether international forays and adjacent categories maintain profitability discipline as scale increases.
Risk lens
- Category cyclicality and discretionary spend: A slowdown in urban discretionary consumption could weigh on premium product mix.
- Working capital and store economics: Rapid expansion can put pressure on cash conversion if store-level breakevens are delayed.
- Post-listing supply: A sizable OFS creates technical supply overhang risks if early holders rotate.
SBI Mutual Fund’s ₹100-crore pre-IPO entry is a high-confidence endorsement of Lenskart’s profitability reset and growth runway just as the offer window opens. With improving earnings, a clearer deployment blueprint for fresh capital, and strong domestic interest, as evidenced by back-to-back pre-IPO checks, the company heads into its IPO with constructive optics on valuation and demand. Execution against the next three years’ capex plan will now be the decisive factor in translating this pre-listing momentum into post-listing performance.
