Light speed India Partners announced Tuesday that it closed $ 275 million from LPs for its third fund as America's leading venture capital firm seeks to increase its investments in the world's second largest Internet market.
The new fund, the largest for India, will allow Lightspeed India Partners to place initial bets on more than two dozen startups in the region, Hemant Mohapatra, a partner of the company, said in an interview with ProWellTech.
The announcement comes as the company, which began investing in India in 2007, made two high-profile partial exits in the past year from budget-friendly housing startup Oyo and edtech giant Byju, which together produced returns of over $ 900 million.
Some of its other main bets, including supporting the Udaan business-to-business market, which was valued at over $ 2.75 billion last year, local social media platform ShareChat, which is in late stages of discussions to raise capital at more than $ 1 billion valuation, and SaaS startups DarwinBox, Yellow Messenger and OkCredit.
The firm, which has six partners in the region, closed its first dedicated fund for India, of $ 135 million, in 2015. In 2018, it closed its second fund for the region, which was $ 175 million. . But the venture capital firm has invested more than $ 750 million to date.
The Indian arm, which typically invests in the early stages of a startup, continues to work with its global mothership to write larger checks to support some startups in the later stages. (Over 80% of his investments went to companies in the Seed or Series A stages in India.)
"This is one of the strongest points of differentiation we have. There aren't many venture capital firms that have such a global presence. Our synergy with the global fund will continue, "Mohapatra said. (Lightspeed also has a large presence in China. Last year, its Chinese division announced a $ 560 million fund.)
Lightspeed, which closed a $ 4 billion fund globally earlier this year, is one of the few US venture capital firms aggressively exploring business in India. Sequoia, its global counterpart, announced two venture capital funds, $ 1.35 billion in size, for India and Southeast Asia last month. 11 of his initial bets have grown to unicorns over the past 14 years in this region.
Mohapatra said the Indian startup ecosystem has matured in recent years, demonstrating large-scale growth and delivering great results. He is also seeing more releases than ever. Earlier this month, Byju acquired WhiteHat Jr., an 18-month-old startup that teaches programming to children, for $ 300 million in an all-cash deal.
Indian startups raised more than $ 14.5 billion last year, a record for the local community. The coronavirus has slowed down the funding rush in India, as in any other market.
Mohapatra said that a fraction of the startups in the company's portfolio have been interrupted by the virus, but noted that most of the startups are moving forward unmoved and some have accelerated in recent months.
"Lightspeed believes this is the time when the best entrepreneurs and companies of the future will emerge. Strong founders are using the favorable winds of India's growing digital ecosystem to build a new future, and Lightspeed is strongly committed to supporting these founders, "the company said in a statement.
