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Lenskart, the omni-channel D2C eyewear brand and a unicorn startup, has announced the launch of Lenskart Vision Fund to invest in other startups.

It plans to invest up to $2 million in each of the startups that are selected based on the expertise it has in areas such eyewear, eyecare and omnichannel retail sectors. These will be synergistic to the business of Lenskart.

On the launch of this fund, Lenskart founder & CEO Peyush Bansal said,

“We have traversed the challenging journey as a start-up to become a unicorn. We believe it’s time to give back to the ecosystem, and support exceptional entrepreneurs by helping them build scalable enterprises.”

In addition to the infusion of capital, the selected startups will also get market access to Lenskart’s over 700 retail stores and online channels across India, Singapore, Middle-East and the US.

According to a statement, the senior leadership team at Lenskart will also mentor the selected startups to navigate through challenges during the early phase of business building.

According to Lenskart, it will select early-growth stage ventures with clear in-market evidence of traction and customer adoption. The focus sectors for investing include D2C eyewear and eye care brands, technologies enabling access to vision care, eye testing technologies, omni-channel retail solutions across logistics, supply chain, merchandising, marketing, in-store automation and deep tech solutions for eyewear, retail and ecommerce.

The Lenskart Vision Fund initiative is being run in partnership with Applyifi.com and endeavours to attract startups that have a clear product-market fit and a defensible competitive differentiator.

Lenskart believes the access to its vertically integrated supply chain, and technology stack for facilitating omni channel retail will provide the startups with the right ecosystem to build their products or services.

Founded in 2010, Lenksart is a leading eyewear retailer brand with online and offline presence. It recently raised $95 million from global private equity giant KKR through a secondary stake sale.