Lightspeed closes third India fund at $275m

It comes two years after the second fund, which closed at $175 million. It also follows a $4 billion global fundraising effort in April, of which $1.5 billion has been earmarked for opportunistic growth investments in China, India and Southeast Asia.

Lightspeed India will continue to invest primarily at the Series A stage and earlier. The firm has been active in the country since 2008, having committed $750 million to India and Southeast Asia-based start-ups.

Following the close of Fund II, Lightspeed India appointed Hemant Mohapatra, who was previously working on strategic business development for Google in the US, as a partner. Mohapatra launched a new office in Bengaluru to support headquarters in New Delhi. Meanwhile, fellow partner Akshay Bhushan has relocated to Singapore to oversee a growing presence in Southeast Asia.

Lightspeed India says it has also expanded its portfolio service teams by hiring staff that can help with executive recruiting, marketing, and customer introductions. This year, it has made 11 investments in Indian and Southeast Asia-based start-ups. These include local language social media platform ShareChat, manufacturing goods marketplace Zetwerks, wholesale goods marketplace Ula, and mapping software provider Nextbillion. 

Lightspeed's global footprint also includes offices in the US, Israel, Singapore, and China. In India, the firm is notable for being an early investor in online hospitality platform Oyo, which it part-exited last year, when founder Ritesh Agarwal completed a buyback through a wholly-owned investment vehicle. It has also invested business-to-business goods marketplace Udaan.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Fundraising
• Venture
• India
• Lightspeed Venture Partners