Lightspeed India raises $275 Million, to partner with bold founders building for India and from India for the world

Lightspeed India Partners (“Lightspeed”) today announced the closing of Lightspeed India Partners III with $275 Million of committed capital. Lightspeed has invested over $750 Million in India since inception in India and with this fund, Lightspeed will continue to partner and support bold entrepreneurs building for tomorrow, right from inception through growth stages.

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Lightspeed India Partners (pictured left to right): Bejul Somaia, Akshay Bhushan, Harsha Kumar, Dev Khare, Vaibhav Agrawal, and Hemant Mohapatra. (Graphic: Business Wire)

This year began with a crisis like no other. It is always tough to start a company, it requires passion & leadership - and in these times, it requires more courage than ever before. Lightspeed believes this is when the best entrepreneurs and companies of the future will emerge. Strong founders are utilizing the tailwinds of India’s digital ecosystem growth to build out a new future and Lightspeed is strongly committed to backing these founders.

Over the last 13 years, Lightspeed has partnered with founders who have built market leading positions, established new categories and in many cases, built from India for the world. Byju’s (EdTech), Indian Energy Exchange (Power Marketplace), Innovaccer (Healthcare SaaS), Oyo (Hospitality), Sharechat (Social Media), Udaan (B2B Commerce) and Yellow Messenger (Conversational AI) are powerful examples of companies where Lightspeed has engaged deeply with founders, including leveraging its global network, customer partnerships, talent acquisition and growth capital.

Since its inception in India in 2007, Lightspeed has partnered with founders at early stages, as early as pre-product or pre-traction in many cases. More than 80% of its investments have been committed to firms at seed or series A stages. Lightspeed will continue to focus on early stages of innovation, and work with founders to support them through their growth lifecycle – including the growth capital pool of over $3 Billion raised recently in its global funds.

With the Indian digital opportunity accelerating, many more sectors in B2B and B2C and categories are emerging where technology is enabling new businesses and models. Startups need more broad-based operational engagement. Over the last few years, Lightspeed has expanded Lightspeed India Advisors partnership to six partners, based out of Delhi and Bengaluru. These partners are: Harsha Kumar, Vaibhav Agrawal, Akshay Bhushan, Hemant Mohapatra, Dev Khare and Bejul Somaia. Lightspeed has also broadened its portfolio service teams in areas like executive recruiting, marketing and customer introductions.

With this fund, as with each of its previous funds, Lightspeed remains committed more than ever, to its mission of partnering with bold entrepreneurs building exceptional companies of tomorrow.

About Lightspeed

Lightspeed India Partners is a multi-stage venture capital firm focused on accelerating disruptive innovations and trends in the Enterprise and Consumer sectors. Since 2007, Lightspeed India has backed entrepreneurs and helped build companies of tomorrow, including OYO, Byju’s, Udaan and Sharechat.

Lightspeed Venture Partners and its affiliates currently manage more than $10 Billion across the global Lightspeed platform, with investment professionals and advisors in India, Silicon Valley, Israel, China, Southeast Asia and Europe.

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