Tech-enabled prescription glasses company Lenskart has bought a majority stake in Japanese D2C eyewear brand OWNDAYS. As part of this strategic partnership, the acquisition will help build the largest omnichannel eyewear business in Asia, the companies said in a statement. It will span over 13 markets in Asia – India, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia and Japan, as per the Lenskart release dated June 30.
OWNDAYS co-founders – CEO Shuji Tanaka and COO Take Umiyama—will continue to be the 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 exit their positions to Lenskart.
As part of this partnership, SoftBank-backed Lenskart is estimated to scale up to 500 people in FY23, who will help build a stronger online and omnichannel experience for OWNDAYS. The Peyush Bansal-led tech-enabled eyewear brand will continue rapid expansion in India and South East Asia to serve the mass to mid-premium segments as OWNDAYS scales swiftly to cater to premium segments.
Lenskart co-founder and group CEO Peyush Bansal said, “I see Lenskart and OWNDAYS sharing 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. There is much we can achieve together which will be greater than the sum of its parts.”
Commenting on the strategic partnership, OWNDAYS founder and CEO Shuji Tanaka said, “I believe 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 envision that the combination of OWNDAYS and LENSKART will bring about an abundance of innovation that will further revolutionize the eyewear industry to the benefit of people across the world.”
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