Fri. Mar 29th, 2024
Bajaj Auto puts $8 million in cycle-sharing space Yulu in series A fundingSource: Google

After placing a bouquet of investments into number of Indian startups such as Ola, OYO, Hike, Paytm, Delhivery, and many more, the Japan-based SoftBank Vision Fund (SVF), is reportedly, holding advance talks with Lenskart and Dailyhunt to complete a monetary deal.

It is expected that Lenskart would get a funding of around $400 million, while Dailyhunt would raise $150 million as a part of a bigger round, reportedly Inc42. 

Lenskart plans to use this new funding for global expansion.

Dailyhunt will get funding from SoftBank, along with an investment of $100 million with another private equity major Carlyle.

Lenskart was founded by Peyush Bansal in 2008. The company is India’s fastest growing eyewear company and largest eyewear company online, as per its website.

Lenskart’s products range from prescription eyewear, branded contact lenses and sunglasses, all equipped with the customers’​ eye power.

Whereas, Dailyhunt was launched by Umesh Kulkarni and Chandrashekhar Sohoni in 2009. The platform was acquired by Verse in 2012. It is a Bengaluru-based news and ebooks mobile platform.

Adding on, Japan-based Soft Bank Group, is known for its leadership by founder Masayoshi Son. It, now, owns operations in broadband, fixed-line telecommunications, e-commerce, internet, technology services, finance, media and marketing, semiconductor design, and other businesses.

The SVF said in its annual earnings call that it has witnessed an 80% year-on-year (YoY) growth in operating income in the financial year 2019. It has attributed this growth to its investments in the Indian market and startups.

According to the new speculations, the SVF is seeking for companies with excellent path of profitability. Lenskart has seen revenue growth of 84 per cent to ₹292 crore, the losses to have cut almost 50 per cent to ₹118 crore in the 2017-18 financial year.

Dailyhunt, on the other hand, has 188 monthly active users, posts 2.5 lakh post every day across 14 languages from 1,000 publishers.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *