Indonesian eyewear startup Lensza gets funded to bring affordable lenses to the masses

InternetOptics, the company behind Lensza, an Indonesia-based online contact lens retailer, announced today that it closed a round of seed funding from investors based in Indonesia, Singapore, and the Netherlands. Lensza did not disclose the amount, but tells Tech in Asia that it’s in the “high six-digit ballpark”. This is Lensza’s second round of funding, following an angel investment by Singapore’s Crystal Horse at an undisclosed time last year.

Lensza launched in February last year with the aim of providing high-quality contact lenses at lower prices to the Indonesian market. Since then, Lensza has expanded into Singapore and Malaysia, as well as added a variety of Indonesian brands to its selection.

The funds will be used to expand Lensza’s offerings, grow its business infrastructure, and expand the company’s geographical reach, according to InternetOptics. Separate from Lensza, InternetOptics also launched a luxury sunglass store called Blackspex in Indonesia and Singapore. The company claims to also be looking to scale up Blackspex’s operation.

See: 10 clever ways to get your startup noticed in Indonesia

However, both Lensza and Blackspex face stiff competition from established retailers in the market, and a great deal of brick-and-mortar optics stores are now morphing into online optics shops. Optik Melawai is one of Indonesia’s most well-known opticians, and recently started selling online. In Singapore, there are numerous retailers and online stores selling contact lenses, and given the fact that contact lenses fall under a medical category, most consumers may already have their preferred opticians. Marc Uthay, co-founder of Lensza, says the company is going to feed the fresh capital into effective marketing strategies for InternetOptics’ brands while “informing consumers that contact lenses can be purchased online as well.”

Euromonitor says sales of contact lenses are expected to see a value compound annual growth rate of 7 percent at constant 2014 prices. Thanks to increasing awareness of the convenience and safety of contact lens usage among Indonesian consumers, value and volume growth will continue. Tech in Asia reached out to Lensza for more information on this story. But truth be told, Marc Uthay isn’t sharing much.