Lightspeed Venture to set shop in India
Silicon Valley VC, Lightspeed Venture Partners, is looking to pitch tent in India. The VC is also close to inking its next investment deal in India.
By Thanuja BM & Boby Kurian, TNN |
BANGALORE: Silicon Valley VC, Lightspeed Venture Partners, is looking to pitch tent in India. The VC is also close to inking its next investment deal in India.
“The firm will set up an office in India by next 12 months. We are most active in Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi currently, so the office will be located in one of these cities,” said Ravi Mhatre, general partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Though several VC firms are active in India, only Sequoia Capital India (through its merger with Westbridge Capital), Canaan Partners and Sherpalo have offices here.
Lightspeed is also close to making a significant investment in a retail company in Bangalore. “It is a significant investment in double digit million. It is a cross-border company which is not headquartered in Bangalore. It currently employs 100 professional and is planning to ramp up to 200 people soon,” Mr Mhatre said.
Unlike most VCs, Lightspeed doesn’t have an India-specific fund. It recently raised a $475m fund of which one third is allocated for investments outside the US. This means the company has set aside about $158m for Israel, China and India.
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Market sources say that the investment basket for India could be in the range of $100m. Lightspeed looks at an average deal size of $3-5m in early stage companies, and around $15-20m in the later stage companies.Incidentally, Lightspeed has invested in a few companies that have cross-border presence in India like Virsa Systems, but has not made any investments in an India-only company.
It is now actively looking at companies here. “We are looking in a broad gamut of sectors like engineering services outsourcing, online retail, domestic and specialty retail, internet, mobile applications, education, financial services and HR,” said Ajit Deora, partner, Lightspeed.
In the last six months, the firm has got over 100 business plans in India.
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