Ratan Tata Steps Out of Lenskart Gaining 5X his Investment

India’s most prominent business and philanthropic leader, Ratan Tata, who is popular for his investments in the country’s budding startup ecosystem, is rumoured to walk out from one of the companies with a massive returns.

The Entrackr report states that Tata would get about 28 times return on his investment of Rs.10 lakh in Lenskart from 2016. Yet, the sources close to Tata have confirmed that the return on his investment would be close to 4.6 times.

Tata has investments in more than 20 Indian startups in his personal capacity. Those start-ups include Cure.fit, Ola, FirstCry, Ola Electric, Urban Company. Also, the Hurun Rich List has estimated Tata’s net worth to be close to Rs.6000 crore.
Furthermore, the Entrackr report states that Tata’s stake in the company, the details of which is not known and would be taken over by an existing investor in the startup.

The startup, which attained the unicorn status in December, 2019 post a $231 million investment from Japanese firm SoftBank, has also allegedly headed for an initial public offering (IPO). This start up is also backed by investors namely Premji Invest, Kedaara Capital, Chiratae Ventures and more.

Founded in 2008, by Peyush Bansal, Sumeet Kapahi and Amit Chaudhary, Lenskart had rapidly expanded with multiple stores. New, the brand has about 535 stores across the country. Lenskart has had its fair share of issues along the way with losses mounting, and has recently turned profitable.