Lightspeed raises $275m new fund to invest in India

Lightspeed India Partners announced that it has raised US$275 million for its third Indian fund from global institutional partners.

With the new fund – its biggest so far for India – the company plans to focus on early-stage, seed, and series A investments. Lightspeed India also aims to work with startups through their growth stages and provide them with global network support, according to a statement.

The Lightspeed India Partners team / Photo credit: Lightspeed India Partners

Since its inception in 2007, Lightspeed India said it has invested over US$750 million in the country. Over 80% of those investments have been committed to firms at their seed or series A stages, the company said.

Its portfolio companies include edtech startup Byju’s, power marketplace Indian Energy Exchange, hotel chain Oyo, social media platform Sharechat, business-to-business commerce platform Udaan, and conversational AI startup Yellow Messenger, among others.

“This year began with a crisis like no other. It is always tough to start a company; it requires passion and leadership – and in these times, it requires more courage than ever before,” the company said, adding that this is when the best companies of the future rise.

Over the last 13 years, the multistage venture capital firm has been focused on accelerating innovations and trends in the enterprise and consumer sectors. Lightspeed has also since broadened its portfolio service teams in areas like executive recruiting, marketing, and customer introductions.

Lightspeed Venture Partners and its affiliates currently manage more than US$10 billion across the global platform, with US$3 billion raised recently for its global funds. It has investment professionals and advisors in India, Silicon Valley, Israel, China, Southeast Asia, and Europe.

In July, Sequoia Capital India also raised US$1.4 billion to invest across India and Southeast Asia.

“The combined GDP of India and Southeast Asia is expected to cross US$14 trillion, and the number of mobile internet users will likely cross 1.5 billion by 2030. This region will become home to a number of massive technology companies during the next decade,” said Sequoia Capital managing director Shailendra J Singh.