Lightspeed has announced the closing of a $500-million early-stage fund (LSIP Fund IV) for India and South-East Asia as part of its global $7-billion raise, bringing its total capital under management to over $18 billion.
This funding is approximately 60 per cent more than Lightspeed’s last flagship fundraise, which focusses on expanding the firm’s early-stage vehicles and supporting its large and growing global platform. Alongside India IV, which is a dedicated early-stage fund vehicle, Lightspeed invests in growth-stage companies in the India and South-East Asia region from its Select and Opportunity fund vehicles.
Over the past five years, the firm’s presence has expanded to 28 professionals across four locations (Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and Singapore). Lightspeed’s India and South-East Asia portfolio include Oyo, Byju’s, Grab, Acko, Razorpay, Udaan, Sharechat, and Innovaccer, among others.
Lightspeed has also promoted Bejul Somaia, partner at Lightspeed, to its leadership team, where he will contribute to the firm’s strategy and global operations, in addition to his existing roles advising on investments in India, South-East Asia and Europe. Bejul joined Lightspeed in 2008 and helped build Lightspeed in India and South-East Asia, where he’ll continue advising on investments and supporting the regions’ founders.
“In the early 2000s, Lightspeed started building a global footprint given our conviction that the future of technology and entrepreneurship would be global. Today, Lightspeed has 70 investors located across twelve cities globally. By intentionally constructing cross-border deal teams, we’re able to offer founders local market knowledge and relationships, together with deep sector domain knowledge. In doing so, we’re all exposed to, and are learning from, the innovation that is happening across the world in order to better serve our founders,”said Bejul Somaia, Partner, Lightspeed.