Indian eyewear giant Lenskart to take control of Owndays

(Source: Owndays)

India’s largest eyewear company, Lenskart, is set to acquire a majority stake of Japanese eyewear brand Owndays from its existing shareholders, L Catterton and Mitsui & Co, for an undisclosed sum.

Owndays’ executives Shuji Tanaka and Takeshi Umiyama will retain their shares in the company and continue to manage Owndays as an independent brand. The deal is expected to help both companies further expand their presence in Asia. 

“As the world is reunited globally beyond Covid-19, I believe the most important point for Owndays to achieve further growth is the drastic DX (digital transformation),” said Shuji Tanaka, president and CEO of Owndays. “Lenskart has an excellent team of engineers and a high level of IT technology.”

Tanaka said by joining forces with Lenskart, Owndays will be able to bring together the “excellent services” of Japan with the IT infrastructure of India to “overturn the conventional wisdom in the eyewear industry”. 

Owndays currently has a network of 460 stores across 13 countries and regions, including Australia, Vietnam, Singapore, Taiwan, India, and the Middle East. The Japanese retailer received investment from LVMH-owned L Catterton and Mitsui & Co in 2018.

Co-founder of Lenskart, Peyush Bansal, said consumers today constantly seek out products, cost-effectiveness, and customer experience, and Owndays will enable Lenskart to meet these demands even more.

Founded in 2010, Lenskart, backed by SoftBank Group, operates more than 1100 stores and has more than 20 million app downloads globally.

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