Indian online & offline eye-wear retailer Lenskart has invested $0.5 million ($500,000) in a US-based startup ThinOptics, that makes innovative reading glasses with features such sticking to your nose unlike ears, as slim as two credit cards, easily fits in your pocket, purse, wallet, and you can even attach it to your phone.

Based out of California,US, ThinOptics has a patented designs that allows reading glasses to stay on your nose and you can tweak/mould them to get the best fit.

Announcing the investment, Peyush Bansal, CEO, Lenskart said: “ThinOptics is a revolutionary product that solves the problem of people forgetting to carry their reading glasses everywhere and often losing them too. At Lenskart, our vision is to revolutionise eyewear and, hence, this investment fits that vision. We have been testing ThinOptics with Indian consumers for the last few months, and the response has been phenomenal. Almost all users come back and order a second pair! With this investment, we intend to work closely with ThinOptics’ California team for growing the India market as well as bringing more innovations in this area.”

[caption id="attachment_124234" align="aligncenter" width="700"] ThinOptics Compact Keychain Reading Glasses[/caption]

ThinOptics product has been a hit with Lenskart customers and the company claims to have sold over 10,000 pieces of it already.

David Westendorf, ThinOptics CEO, in a statement said, “We’ve been partners with Lenskart since 2015. With this Lenskart investment, we will continue to evolve our product portfolio and make several new product announcements in the coming months.”

ThinOptics is Lenskart's third investment in less than a year. The company had earlier invested $1 million in Ditto, an augmented reality technology for trying frames online, 6over6, an Israel based start-up which works on enabling eye exams through the Android phone.

Moreover, Lenskart has allocated a corpus fund of $3 million (approximately Rs 20 crore) for investing in more startups which can work on new technologies and products in its sphere.

Founded in November 2010 by Peyush Bansal, Lenskart has raised about US$129.6 million to date, according to Crunchbase data. The company counts invstors such as Ratan Tata, IDG Ventures, Unilazer Ventures, TPG Growth, TR Capital, World Bank's IFC and Premji Invest, among others.

Source - Economic Times | Top Image - ThinOptics @Youtube
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