Sequoia India establishes separate VC, growth teams
Sequoia Capital India has split its investment staff, creating separate teams for India and Southeast Asia focused on venture and growth capital investments. The firm's China and US affiliates already employ a similar strategy.
The restructuring took effect last year, as reported by VCCircle and confirmed by AVCJ. Sequoia’s venture team seeks early-stage investments, while the growth team is focused on more mature companies. The firm will continue to be led jointly by managing directors Shailendra Singh, Abheek Anand, Shailesh Lakhani, Mohit Bhatnagar, and GV Ravishankar.
Sequoia is currently investing its sixth India fund, which closed in August at $695 million – a significant reduction from its $920 million predecessor. The vehicle targets the technology, consumer, and healthcare sectors across India and Southeast Asia.
The fundraise coincided with the elevation of Anand, a former Facebook executive who has led a number of deals for Sequoia, to managing director. Sequoia also promoted four vice presidents to the role of principal in the growth and venture teams, while Managing Director Abhay Pandey stepped down to set up an independent fund.
In China, Sequoia has pursued separate venture and growth strategies for over a decade. Its latest China funds closed in August with $1.8 billion for the growth vehicle and $550 million for the venture fund; in addition, the firm raised $150 million for a seed fund, the first of its kind for the firm in China.
The decision to implement a similar separation of the growth and venture teams in India was inspired by the increasing depth of the country’s growth equity market. Both teams will continue to invest out of the same fund for now.
Sequoia has been investing in India since 2006, when it raised $400 million for its first fund and merged with WestBridge Capital. The firm raised two more funds before splitting from WestBridge in 2011. It raised $530 million for Fund IV in 2014 and then topped it up to $695 million last year. That fund was the first to include Southeast Asia.
Sequoia has backed more than 200 early and growth-stage companies in India and Southeast Asia, including Indian budget hotel platform Oyo, logistics services company BlackBuck, and cloud business software developer Freshworks. Its Southeast Asia portfolio includes Singapore-based mixed martial arts organization One Championship, Indonesian fintech platform Moka, and Malaysian online-to-offline services provider Fave.
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