Delhi based online eyewear retail firm Lenskart has invested $1 million in US-based startup Ditto to acquire a minority stake. Ditto offers 3D graphical face modelling feature fir virtual trial service to Lenskart.
Lenskart is already using its 3D try-on feature on its website and app. However, to increase user engagement on its platform, it wants to increase Ditto’s usage. Lenskart will soon allow users to share their images trying different eyeglasses with their relatives and friends on social media.
Ditto is a popular e-commerce portal which provides its patented 3D try-on technology that allows users to see themselves in virtual eyewear in 180-degree angles. You also get to your past preferences which makes online shopping of frames easy and faster. Ditto’s service gets around 10,000 trials daily. With this investment, Ditto has become Lenskart’s strategic partner and together, they are hoping to improve the overall experience of their customer base.
It claims to have a growth rate of 200% year by year. Till date, Lenskart has raised over $120 million from various investors including Azim Premji’s PremjiInvest, Ratan Tata, World Bank arm IFC and Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan.
Lenskart is planning to invest around $15 million to expand its supply chain and retail store network. When it was founded in the year 2010, its products were available exclusively on its online platforms. However, in 2014, it started selling offline. Lenskart currently has over 350 stores in 95 cities all over India. It claims to have a growth rate of 200% year by year.
The company is planning to open 400 more stores in small towns, tier II and III cities and take the count to 700 by the end of March 2019. It is also planning to set up a new manufacturing and assembly unit in Manesar, Haryana. It has invested around $7.5 million in this venture. It is expecting to sell 400,000 frames a month and double the sales by the end of next financial year.
