Lenskart recovers from a tepid opening to close the first day slightly above its IPO price

Lenskart shares recovered after a weak start to finish just above their offering price on Monday, in the wake of the Indian eyewear retailer’s 72.8 billion rupee ($821 million) initial public offering (IPO) that sold within hours but sparked controversy over its valuation.

The stock opened at INR 395, below its IPO price of INR 402, and fell as much as 11% to INR 356.10 during the session before recovering to close at INR 404.55. The closing price valued Lenskart at approximately INR 702 billion (about US$8 billion). The IPO was heavily oversubscribed with bids reaching approximately 28 times the available shares, primarily led by institutional investors.

Lenskart’s pitch to investors is that its vertically integrated model — where it controls everything from manufacturing to retail stores — can outperform legacy optical chains and online rivals. But the 15-year-old company faces competition across price points from the Titan Eye+ to new direct-to-consumer players, raising questions about how quickly it can expand profitably in India and beyond.

The company reported profits in fiscal 2025 (which ended in March), with revenue rising 23% year-on-year to 66.53 billion rupees (about $750 million). Net profit was INR 2.97 billion (about US$33 million), supported by an accounting gain of INR 1.67 billion (about US$19 million) (not actual cash) associated with its acquisition of Owndays. Excluding this one-time item, the company’s underlying earnings were INR 1.30 billion, or approximately US$15 million.

The company sought a valuation of INR 700 billion — about $7.9 billion — at the high end of the IPO price range, making it among India’s most valuable new-age consumer brands, along with companies like Honasa and BlueStone. The valuation represents a jump of more than roughly 60% 5 billion dollars level Lenskart shares were traded in a secondary share sale last June in which late backers Fidelity and Temasek participated. Fidelity later marked Lenskart’s valuation By 12% to $5.6 billion In November last year.

The proposed valuation indicates about 230 times Lenskart’s underlying net profit and nearly 10 times its revenue, sparking controversy among retail investors and on social media. DSP Asset Managers, who invested in the company prior to listing, motive The value of the deal, despite admitting it was “expensive”, said in a post in response to criticism that the company remained “strong and scalable”.

CEO Piyush Bansal, who gained widespread public recognition as a judge on Shark Tank India, said the case was “reasonably priced,” citing feedback from institutional investors.

“We did not build Lenskart to reach valuation,” he said at the IPO event in Mumbai. “We did it to reach people, from Delhi to the smallest cities in India.”

Lenskart plans to use the proceeds to support expansion, including opening new stores and strengthening its supply chain and retail infrastructure. The company also intends to invest in technology and marketing, and said a portion of the funds may be allocated to acquisitions and other general corporate purposes.

Existing investors, including SoftBank, Schroders Capital, Premji Invest, Kedaara Capital and Alpha Wave Ventures, sold shares in the IPO. Co-founders Piyush, Nihal Bansal, Amit Chaudhary and Sumit Kapahi also sold part of their holdings.

Lenskart’s listing comes at a time when many Indian startups are moving towards public markets as late-stage venture funding tightens and appetite from local investors increases. Fintech companies Groww and Pine Labs, edtech platform PhysicsWallah, SaaS provider Capillary Technologies, and consumer brand BoAt are among the startups gearing up for their IPOs in India.