Lenskart has helped many Indians see things more clearly, with the help of their world-class lenses and frames. Lenskart founder Peyush Bansal has become a well-known figure since he appeared as a guest on Shark Tank India. So today, we will take a peek into the story of the genius Peyush Bansal and his success story.
Upon completing his schooling at Don Bosco School, Delhi, Peyush Bansal obtained his Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering from McGill University, Canada, in 2006. He later followed it up with a postgraduate degree in entrepreneurship from IIM Bangalore.
Bansal worked at Microsoft till the end of 2007 as a software engineer, and while at Microsoft, he ran a classifieds site for students named www.searchmycampus.com. The classifieds went beyond helping students look for accommodation, book part-time jobs, carpooling buddies, and internship opportunities.
However, he made the shocking decision to quit working at the software behemoth Microsoft which confounded his friends and family as this is a dream job for many. Attempting to sell eyewear online in India was unusual, to say the least, as brick-and-mortar stores have always dominated the eyewear sector, and this worried those close to him. But the entrepreneurial spirit in Peyush Bansal only led him to take risks which later worked in his favor.
Lenskart‘s founder Peyush Bansal set up Flyrr, the precursor to Lenskart. Flyrr dealt exclusively with eyewear in the United States. Buoyed by the positive response, Peyush Bansal donned the hat of Lenskart CEO and decided to test the waters in India in 2010. This decision was backed by Bansal realizing that over 600 million Indians are affected by poor vision, and quality prescription glasses at affordable rates are often beyond their reach, and being keen to balance out the shortage and offer vision correction at affordable rates.
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This decision was vindicated when the likes of Tata Sons and Softbank invested in Lenskart. In 2019, the firm officially entered the Unicorn club with a $1.5 billion evaluation.
In the early days of Lenskart, they were selling prescription contact lenses. Pushing online sales of something that largely revolved around the concept of try and buy was an unusual business model but Bansal adopted this model as it was a category neglected by the more established players in the e-commerce sector.
Having met with initial success, the Lenskart CEO moved to include sunglasses and prescription glasses in the portfolio. Lenskart currently employs over 4000 people and has a retail network of around 500 stores nationwide.
Lenskart plans to expand its footprint in Singapore while expanding into new markets in Southeast Asia, namely, Indonesia and Vietnam bringing its network of physical stores in the region to over 75.
Lenskart’s expansion plans revolve around four major markets – India, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and the US. According to Lenskart’s founder Peyush Bansal, plans are afoot to go public by 2025, and this will be another feather in Lenskart’s cap as they train their eye on the rest of the world.
