Lenskart acquires majority stake in Owndays
Sharks Peyush Bansal’s Lenskart is buying a majority stake in Japan’s Owndays, creating one of Asia’s biggest online retailers of eyewear with the merger valuing 32-year business Owndays at $400 million.
Owndays co-founders Shuji Tanaka and Take Umiyama will continue to be shareholders and lead the management team at the Japanese firm. Founded in 1989, Tokyo-based Owndays designs and manufactures optical eyewear. The company operates over 350 shops across Asia in locations including Japan, Singapore, Australia, India and Hong Kong. It sells over 2.5 million pairs of glasses a year.
Asia is on eyes
The deal will extend the merged entity’s reach to 13 Asian markets, including India, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan, the two said.
Source: TechCrunch
Coffee wars gets hotter – Reliance steps in
A franchise partnership with Pret A Manger is announced by Reliance Retail to launch and build the British sandwich and coffee chain in India, marking the company’s foray into the booming food and beverage industry.
Pret A Manger, is French for ‘ready to eat'. Is Reliance “ready to eat coffee now?”. Looks like it
Run by one of India’s richest men Mukhesh Ambani, Reliance, through RBL, already has a number of partnerships with global luxury brands such as Burberry and Jimmy Choo via franchises and joint ventures.
A brand of brands
RBL has over 14 years nurtured and grown global brands in the country.RBL’s portfolio comprises Armani Exchange, Bally, Bottega Veneta, Brooks Brothers, Burberry, Canali, Coach, Diesel, Dune, Emporio Armani, Ermenegildo Zegna, G-Star Raw, Gas, Giorgio Armani, Hamleys, Hugo Boss, Hunkemoller, Jimmy Choo, Kate Spade New York, Manish Malhotra, Michael Kors, Mothercare and Muji.
Pret’s roots
Pret A Manger which first opened in 1986 in London is owned by German billionaire Reimann Family through a conglomerate JAB Holding Company, (which acquired the chain from PE firm Bridgepoint in 2018 to challenge Nestle in the coffee business)
Source: Times Now
Like a Bosch; opens smart campus in BLR
German technology and services major, Bosch, has inaugurated its first smart campus in Bangalore, the largest in the world, outside Germany. The new facility is located in Adugodi, Bosch’s Bangalore headquarters, and has invested over Rs 800 crore towards its development.
A 76-acre smart campus in Bengaluru to work on technology solutions in sustainability and security domains, is capable of hosting 10,000 associates. The company has leveraged artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, automation, and digitalisation capabilities to develop the “Smart.NXT” campus.
The campus has a smart workspace management solution following hotdesking practice --advance booking of a work cubicle through an app -- in a hybrid workplace model and visitor management solution that reduces 95% of manual effort in issuing visitor passes.