Asia’s leading prescription glasses companies OWNDAYS and Lenskart today announced a strategic partnership via a merger that will create the region’s largest Omni channel eyewear business with over 20 million App Downloads, 300 Home Eye-Test Representatives, and 1500 Stores across 13 markets in Asia including India, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Japan.
OWNDAYS Co-founders, CEO Shuji Tanaka, and COO Take Umiyama, will continue to be shareholders and lead the management team of OWNDAYS, which will be operated as a separate brand. The current major shareholders of OWNDAYS – L Catterton Asia and Mitsui & Co., Principal Investments – will exit their positions.
The two companies have been at the forefront of the vision care industry’s transformation in Asia, as consumers globally increasingly buy prescription glasses more frequently than they do with lifestyle choices, and the combination is expected to result in the most innovative eyewear company in the world.
OWNDAYS CEO Shuji Tanaka commented, “OWNDAYS has been recognized as the eyewear brand of choice across multiple countries in Asia ever since we opened our first overseas store, in Singapore, in 2013. Our growth accelerated following L Catterton Asia’s and Mitsui & Co., Principal Investments’ participation in us in 2018, as we leveraged their strong commercial network in Japan and across the region to expand our operations to cover a total of 13 markets today. I believe digital transformation is the key to our next phase of growth in the post-pandemic operating environment and 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.”
Peyush Bansal, Co-Founder, and Group CEO at Lenskart said, “The way people buy eyewear is changing rapidly and at Lenskart it is our mission to drive this transformation globally. In today’s age, the customer wants great products, great prices, and delightful experiences all the time. With OWNDAYS we move a step closer to democratizing eyewear. I have known Shuji-san and Take-san for over five years and have been an admirer of the disruptive brand and customer experience they have built with OWNDAYS. To bring about a revolutionary change such as the one the world needs in eyewear, we need to work with like-minded and complementary founders. I see Lenskart and OWNDAYS sharing the same set of values centred 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.”
About OWNDAYS
OWNDAYS is a leading eyewear brand in Asia headquartered in Japan and Singapore with around 460 stores across 13 markets in the region – Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, Australia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Hong Kong, India, and the UAE. Aiming to become the global leader in the fast-fashion eyewear category, the company is focused on providing superior customer experiences through elements including fast service, a simple pricing model, and an extensive warranty system. OWNDAYS has been backed by L Catterton and Mitsui & Co., Principal Investments since 2018, and has grown rapidly since then to become synonymous with high-quality yet affordable eyewear in Southeast Asia.
About Lenskart
Founded in 2010, Tech-enabled start-up Lenskart is the largest eyewear brand in India. While only 10 years old, it has already revolutionized eyewear buying behavior in India with its high-fashion, value-for-money, and Omni channel business model. Lenskart ships over 10 million pairs of eyewear every year and has over 20 million app downloads, 300 home eye test representatives as well as over 1,100 stores across India, Singapore, and Dubai. Known for its facial-analysis-driven eyewear recommendation and Omni channel customer experience, Lenskart uses its vertically-integrated supply chain technology to deliver high-quality fashionable eyewear to customers quickly at surprisingly great prices. Lenskart grew by 65% year-on-year in 2021 and is on track to grow by another 50+% in 2022.
Lenskart is backed by Falcon Edge Capital, SoftBank, KKR, Temasek, Premji Invest, Kedaara Capital among other key investors.
