Eyewear retailer ClearDekho has raised $5 million (around Rs 40 crore) in a Series A funding round co-led by early-stage fund SphitiCap and Venture Catalysts.
The round also saw participation from Dholakia Ventures, NB Ventures, Estrela Ventures and Cornerstone, among others.
Founded by Shivi Singh and Saurabh Dayal in 2017, ClearDekho claims to offer affordable products via its online marketplace and franchise-driven retail outlets. It targets low-income mass market consumers across tier II, III and IV cities and towns. It has over 100 stores across 40 cities and aims to standardize over 80% of the unorganized optical retail market.
“India has enormous demand for eyewear and the organized play is growing by 2x every year. We are extremely bullish on Bharat opportunity, and we see a tectonic shift in consumer behaviour due to the increasing screen times across new-age consumers from tier III, IV and V towns of India. We have seen the business grow by almost 60% from FY 21 to FY 22 and are determined to double down in the coming years,” said Singh.
Last October, the startup raised about Rs 30 crore in a pre-Series A funding led by Aroa Ventures, the family office of OYO founder Ritesh Agarwal.
“The novel solutions provided by the company, catering to the masses and enabling access to affordable eyewear was recognised by us as a cause to promote through our resources and network,” said Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, founder and CEO at Venture Catalysts.
ClearDekho is SphitiCap’s first investment from its maiden fund which is targeted to have a $500 million corpus. The venture fund had said it was looking to raise the initial $125-150 million in this quarter, while the remainder in the coming 24-36 months. A majority of its financing until its initial close is likely to be sourced from foreign investors, SphitiCap’s Pallav Kumar Singh told VCCircle.
Singh added that the fund is in advanced talks to close deals with five startups operating in the direct-to-consumer (D2C), fintech, and manufacturing sectors and is looking to close these deals in the next one month. Besides, it is also evaluating deals with 30 players which may be announced by the end of FY23.
Noida-based Sphitgram Ventures’ maiden fund was launched in September. Its key focus areas for investment are sustainability, growth and impact, with a vision to onboard enterprises from tier II and III cities.
