Asian Healthcare Fund, Ventureast Invest Rs 40 cr in Ben Franklin

BENGALURU: Venture capital firms Ventureast and Asian Healthcare Fund have invested Rs 40 crore in Eye Gear Optics India, which runs a chain of optical retail stores under the brand name of Ben Franklin across the country.

The Hyderabad-based firm, which has over 180 stores in 13 states, will use the funding to expand its operations, hire talent and also explore online retailing.

"We believe that Asian Healthcare Fund's strong domain expertise and Ventureast's vast experience in enabling businesses will help us in harnessing the value of partnership and achieving our growth objectives," said Raj Pyla, chief executive of Ben Franklin.

The firm founded by Pyla an engineer in 2008 follows a unique business model of partnering with leading ophthalmologists by being co-located in their eye hospitals and clinics. Pyla said Ben Franklin is the only player in the retail optical sector operating through hospitals and clinics with a 70:30 partnership.

"We believe Ben Franklin has the potential to be a game-changer in the optical retail space in India with its unique model and strong relationships with doctors,” said Ramesh Alur, general partner at Ventureast. He worked with the Ben Franklin team for a year before making the investment. "It is like a marriage, we needed to understand each other.”

Alur said the eyewear product market in the country is worth about Rs 32,748 crore, growing at 2 per cent and about 92 per cent of the people who need vision correction use spectacles. Healthcare and Life Sciences industry was the second favourite destination for early-stage investors during 2014 after information technology, attracting 11 investments worth $49 million (Rs 302 crore), according to research firm Venture Intelligence.

But the volume of investments in the early-stage segment was actually down by over 30% compared to 2013 – which had witnessed 16 investments worth about $80 million (Rs 490 crore).