Lenskart IPO could make Peyush Bansal a billionaire: What we know about his net worth

Peyush Bansal created a disruption in the market when he founded Lenskart 15 years ago with partners he met on LinkedIn, and over the years he turned his eyewear business into a multibillion-dollar venture. Now, it is on its way to enter the billionaires club with its upcoming Lenskart IPO (initial public offering).

Lenskart plans to enter the stock market in early November, targeting a valuation of $9 billion at the time of listing on Dalal Street, based on the size of the IPO, Bloomberg reported, citing knowledgeable people.

That would give the entrepreneur close to $800 million after selling a small portion of his shares in the IPO, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. If Lenskart’s shares gain 25 percent in value for the first time, Peyush Bansal’s shares may exceed $1 billion.

Peyush Bansal’s road to the Lenskart IPO shows how investor confidence is returning for some founder-led ventures after a period when the country’s leading startups struggled to survive and funds ran dry. Lenskart has carved out a niche with robotic manufacturing in India, using machines imported from Germany to produce its glasses, and a website that makes it easy for customers to order and test their purchases remotely.

Starting with a large domestic market, Lenskart is already expanding in Southeast Asia; Bansal notes that demand patterns in Indonesia and Vietnam mirror India’s trajectory a decade ago.

“India is the myopia capital of the world and many of our people need glasses,” Bansal said in an interview in Mumbai. “If we can figure this out, everything else will follow, including scale, profit and increased market value.”

Bansal’s claim is that India is different from previous consumer tech listings and is already making money. The Gurugram-based company, which designs, manufactures and sells eyewear online and through retail stores, reported its first full-year profit on March 31.

Shark Tank

It also has the wind of a well-established retail fan base behind it. Apart from Lenskart, Bansal is also a judge on the India series of American show Shark Tank and has over 9,00,000 followers on Instagram.

He says timing and persistence have served him well in business. Bansal jokes that he and co-founder Amit Chaudhary spend one day every week brainstorming new ideas, with mixed results.

“Our hit rate is around 50 percent,” he said. “Flipping a coin could also have worked.”

This year, it has been struggling with a stock run that has been buffeted by trade wars and geopolitical headwinds, as well as more cautious investors.

While India’s startup scene is one of the largest in the world, valuations have fallen precipitously as it struggles to grow and investors ask tougher questions. The family office of tech billionaire Narayana Murthy recently highlighted steep discounts caused by funds forced to exit their investments. Like Lenskart, SoftBank Group Corp. Oyo Hotels, also backed by , was once among India’s most valuable startups, valued at $10 billion in 2019 before its valuation dropped sharply and later recovered.

Peyush Bansal’s approach has won support from investors who prefer patience over haste. SoftBank, which owns about 15 percent of the company, has described its stake in Lenskart as an example of patient capital that can wait decades to fuel growth. Earlier this year, investor Fidelity Management & Research valued Lenskart at $6.1 billion.

The Lenskart IPO will test whether the recovery in investor appetite for Indian consumer technology stocks is permanent. Urban Co.’s blockbuster debut in the utility rental market last month, when its shares soared 62% on its opening day, reignited optimism after a string of disappointing post-market performances from other startups cooled enthusiasm for the sector.

Yet Lenskart remains dependent on China for more than a third of its purchases, including frames, moulds, and raw materials; It’s a trust Bansal accepts but describes as manageable. Such dependence leaves the firm vulnerable to China’s supply chain fluctuations; here tariffs or export restrictions could hit deliveries and erode margins.

Peyush Bansal is currently managing the production of a new manufacturing facility in Hyderabad, which is expected to be the largest in the world, covering an area of ​​50 acres and having a production capacity of hundreds of thousands of cups per day.

First Attempts

An engineering graduate from McGill University in Montreal, Bansal began his career at Microsoft Corp. in Redmond, Washington, before returning to India to pursue entrepreneurship. His first venture, a student housing platform, gave way to a broader mission after realizing there was a much larger gap in vision care. He and three partners he met on LinkedIn started building Lenskart from a small office in Faridabad on the outskirts of Delhi.

The company now controls nearly every link in the value chain, from lens design and manufacturing to last-mile delivery. Kolkata employs hundreds of ophthalmologists providing remote eye exams and is developing AI-based testing tools to reach smaller cities where access to eye care remains limited.

According to the filing, Lenskart plans to use the proceeds from the stake sale to open new stores across India, invest in technology and AI capabilities, make acquisitions and fund general corporate purposes.

As of March, it operated 2,723 stores across India and in markets such as the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Almost 40% of its revenue now comes from outside India, underlining its growing international footprint.

The next big bet is smart glasses. A 70-member team is working to integrate features such as UPI, AI tools, cameras and headsets.

“It is tempting to put it all on the line,” Bansal said. “But timing is important.”