ClearDekho is deeply focused on organizing this highly fragmented market and consistently delivering high quality affordable optical solutions.
ClearDekho, India’s leading affordable eyewear brand with 60+ operational stores across the country and over 300K+ distributed glasses, raises $4 million in pre-series A round funding led by Aroa Ventures (Family Office of OYO Founder Ritesh Agarwal). The funding round also saw participation from other respected investors like CK Jaipuria Family Office (Pepsi Bottlers AP), NB Ventures Dubai, Anuj Sheth (AAJ Ventures, Dubai), Kitty Agarwal (Infoedge), Anand Chandrasekaran, Nandi Vardhan Mehta (MD, Kaaf Investments, Dubai), Magnus KJoller Holdings (Danish VC), Mandar Joshi (M Strategy Global, Dubai), Venture Catalysts, SOSV MOX (World’s Leading Startup Accelerator VC), Gemba Capital and others.
ClearDekho has systematically planned to utilize the funds into 3 major sectors- expansion of stores across geographies (40%), marketing and on-ground activities to drive new customer acquisition (30%), back end operations infrastructure to automate fittings & quality check, hiring & training infrastructure and enhance inventory and private label brands (20%).
Commenting on the investment, Gaurav Gulati, Head & Chief Investment Officer, Aroa Ventures said: “The unorganized optical market has a lot of scope of becoming standardized and hassle-free for the mass consumers. ClearDekho is deeply focused on organizing this highly fragmented market and consistently delivering high quality affordable optical solutions. We have strong conviction in the team and their expansion plans. ClearDekho will be present in 100+ cities within the next 12 months and will continue to penetrate Tier 2/3/4 cities across India. This investment will enable the team to focus on scaling up the operations and further strengthen the customer experience.”
Speaking on the development, Mr. Shivi Singh, Co-Founder, and CEO, ClearDekho, said: “The enormous $14BN Eyewear Industry in India is growing at 30% CAGR YOY powered through huge demand of 250MN people waiting to get affordable eyeglasses. The post-COVID exponential increase in screen time across age groups has led to the surge in demand for affordable eyeglasses especially from new-age consumers from smaller towns which are driving the revolution. We strongly believe in creating value for our customers and as we set out to transform this massive unorganized sector, the next decade 2020 to 2030 would be defining for us.”
Also, Mr. Saurabh Dayal, Co-Founder, and COO, ClearDekho added: “We deeply understand the importance of providing quality yet affordable eyewear products accessible to Indian consumers and take immense pride in playing the role of a torchbearer as we foresee massive demand in the value segment in the coming years. Apart from opening new franchise outlets, ClearDekho plans to add another 1000 retail stores in the next 3 years by collaborating with existing optical retailers across India.
Along with a strong presence in the offline market through its FOCO Retail Stores (Franchise Owned Company Operated), Converted Local Optical Retail Stores , and CD’s @ home/work/school, ClearDekho operates a marketplace platform to provide high-quality, affordable optical products through multiple sellers. Owing to an extreme surge in demand for affordable eyeglasses, ClearDekho has grown 1300% in just 3 years.
Source: Business World
