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Peyush Bansal, the cofounder of eyewear retailer Lenskart Solutions, is the latest Indian to join the three-comma club. Shares of SoftBank-backed Lenskart, which went public nine months ago, hit an all-time high of nearly 627 rupees on the National Stock Exchange last week. Bansal's close to 9% stake in the $11 billion market cap company plus the proceeds of shares he sold in the IPO, give him an estimated net worth of $1 billion. The stock jumped after the company reported a four-fold rise in net profit to 2.28 billion rupees ($24 million) for the quarter ended June 30 amid surging sales in both domestic and overseas markets. Headquartered in the northern Indian city of Faridabad, Lenskart sells everything from glasses to sunglasses to eyewear accessories both online and through a network of stores. It has a presence in 16 countries including Singapore, Japan and the UAE, apart from India where it has 2,725 stores across 157 cities. It added 132 stores in the latest quarter, of which 116 were in India and 16 overseas taking the company's total store count to 3,459 stores. Bansal, 42, started the business in 2010 with his sister Neha, who heads merchandising and two other cofounders, Amit Chaudhari, the sourcing chief and Sumeet Kapahi, who oversees the store network. The company got going initially as an online retailer offering customers a 3D feature to try on the glasses virtually. It later expanded offline opening its first store in New Delhi in 2013. "Buying spectacles is not an easy decision," says Arvind Singhal, chairman of Gurgaon-based retail consultancy, The Knowledge Company. "You want the opinion of a family member or a friend and you want to look at a wide assortment. It is good that Lenskart corrected course and opened physical stores." Bansal took the company public in November 2025, raising $821 million in an IPO that was oversubscribed 28 times. However, the stock listed at a 3% discount to its issue price. SoftBank first invested in Lenskart in December 2019, leading a $275 million funding round that made Lenskart a unicorn. The Japanese investor sold a small stake during the IPO but offloaded a bigger 3.25% stake for $300 million in June after the mandatory six-month lock-in period had ended. It still remains the largest shareholder with a nearly 10% stake. Other marquee investors include Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, private equity giant KKR and TPG. Bansal, who has an undergrad degree in electrical engineering from Canada's McGill University, started his career with Microsoft in Redmond where he worked as a program manager for its MS Office product. He quit within a year to move back to India in 2007 and started Valyoo Technologies a year later. It operated a website called searchmycampus.com aimed at helping students find campus housing.

Meta taken to trial for digital harms to kids San Francisco, Aug 17: Meta faces lawsuit over child safety and is going to trial this week in California. US states are seeking extensive financial damages that could, in theory, total as much as USD 1.4 trillion, plus changes to how the company operates Facebook and Instagram. The lawsuit accuses the social media giant of contributing to the youth mental health crisis by deliberately designing features that get children addicted to its platforms. It also claims that Meta routinely collects data on children under 13 without their parents' consent, in violation of federal law. Dozens of states filed the lawsuit three years ago. The trial set to begin Tuesday in federal court in Oakland, California, features four of the states as plaintiffs; California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey. The other 25 states are expected to have trials later. Meta said it disputes the allegations, and the trial evidence will show its commitment to supporting young people. (AP) Man charged with murder of Microsoft manager Jacksonville, Aug 17: A man charged with arranging the fatal ambush of a Microsoft design manager is headed to trial Monday in Florida, more than four years after the victim was repeatedly shot outside his vehicle while his 2-year-old child was strapped in a car seat. Investigators say a tire was placed in the road in a plot to distract and kill Jared Bridegan, 33, in Jacksonville Beach in 2022. They allege it was a murder-for-hire scheme involving his ex-wife and her current husband. The husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana, 38, is charged with first-degree murder in Duval County court. Bridegan's former wife, Shanna Gardner, 39, is also charged with murder, though her trial won't start until September. Bridegan and Gardner were granted a divorce in 2015. But it was followed by years of acrimony over the parenting of their two children. Police found that Gardner "hated Mr. Bridegan, hated having to share custody of the children with him and wanted him dead," Judge London Kite wrote, summarising evidence after a bond hearing in 2024. (AP) Hurricane Lala weakens to a tropical storm Honolulu, Aug 17: Hurricane Lala weakened to a tropical storm Sunday, raking Hawaii even without making landfall, with heavy rains and winds sweeping around 100 homes off their foundations on Big Island, officials said. Gov Josh Green said no one is believed to have died when the homes washed away. search-and-rescue mission was launched in the coastal communities of Na'alehu and Wai'ohinu, near the Big Island's southern tip. Green spoke at a news conference as the storm continued to punish the islands with strong gusts and pounding rain, reaching nearly 1 metre in places. He said its not clear if a vehicle wreck that killed one person Saturday in the South Point area of the Big Island was storm related. Honolulu, on Oahu, bore the brunt of the tropical storm conditions spreading westward over the island chain. The Honolulu Fire Department had received more than 600 weather-related responses by noon local time Sunday, including 147 reports of downed trees. There were roofs blown off, downed power lines and one swimmer who had to be rescued. (AP)