Multi-stage venture capital firm Lightspeed India Partners has announced the closing of its third fund with $275 million of committed capital.

Lightspeed has already invested over $750 million in India since inception in India. The new fund, Lightspeed India Partners III, will be used to back start-ups looking for capital during the ongoing pandemic.

“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. Lightspeed believes this is when the best entrepreneurs and companies of the future will emerge. Strong founders are utilising the tailwinds of India’s digital ecosystem growth to build out a new future and Lightspeed is strongly committed to backing these founders,” the company said in a statement.

Over the last 13 years, Lightspeed has invested in companies such as Byju’s (edtech), Indian Energy Exchange (power marketplace), Innovaccer (healthcare SaaS), Oyo (hospitality), Sharechat (social media), Udaan (B2B commerce) and Yellow Messenger (conversational AI).

More than 80 per cent 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 categories are emerging where technology is enabling new businesses and models. Start-ups need more broad-based operational engagement,” it said.

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.

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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