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Funding Alert: Biggest Seed Funding In Indian Startup Community

By Jaskirat Singh    -   May 20, 2022

Lenskart backed Neso Brands raised seed funding of $100mn from global investors for its brand roll-up initiative acting as a catalyst for eye-wear startups for global reach and backing.

Neso Brands, Singapore-based startup of Lenskart, recently raised more than $100 Million, that is, Rs.775 Crores, worth of funds, in the largest seed fund (i.e, first ever funding round) ever in the history of startups.

About Startup: Neso Brands based out of Singapore (global investment hub for early aged ventires) is a brand roll-up initiative of Lenskart. It invests in global eye-wear brands and houses them, helping them grow and develop with its aim to give these early stage eye-wear brands access to newer technologies of supply-chain management, quality improvement as well as innovative marketing practices by pooling the resources.

About the Investors: The cheques of funding came from global investors like KKR, SoftBank, Alpha Wave Global and Temasek however, number of shares and valuation remains undisclosed.

Purpose of Funding:

  • Leverage synergies and expansion by investing in as many as eye-wear brands as possible
  • Expanding the reach of Lenskart globally
  • Providing an ecosystem for early stage eye-wear startups to grow by shared resources and technological advancements.

Acting as a catalyst for D2C is another domain for Indian Startups like Mensa Brands, Goat Brands and Rebel Foods. Lenskart aims to enter the brand roll-up ecosystem and enhance its reach globally, giving teething challenge to its competitors like Specsmakers, Coolwinks, Titan eye plus, etc. through its already existing shop and e-commerce network.

 

Direct from Founder's and CEO's desk:

In  an interview with e-news website, Shark and Lenskart CEO Peyush Bansal said “With this investment in Neso Brands, we want to accelerate our mission of transforming the way people see and experience the world. It is our firm belief that the eyewear brands of today will not be brands of the future and Neso is our initiative to partner with founders globally to help create eyewear brands of the future".

Neso’s new CEO: With its fund raise, Bjorn Bergstrom who carries more than 10 years of experience from executive positions within startups, venture capital and consulting, has joined Neso’s founding team as CEO. He added “By investing in the most promising new brands in the industry and leveraging centralized resources across technology, manufacturing and distribution, Neso Brands will be uniquely positioned to scale the eyewear brands of the future. I am very much looking forward to leading the company on this journey and working closely together with our investors and partners.

 

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