2023 Year in review: VC funds see heightened churn amid performance pressure

ETtech has put together an annual list of big movements across the country’s venture capital (VC) industry. At least 38 partners and top executives moved out of VC funds this year highlighting the churn caused by the challenges in the technology sector. Of the total tally, 25 professionals were in the investments team across various funds, as per executive search firm Longhouse Consulting.

Lightbox exits

In August, Jeremy Wenokur, Prashant Mehta and Siddharth Talwar, left the Mumbai-based firm that has backed the likes of Dunzo and WayCool. Lightbox has only one partner left in Sandeep Murthy.


Orios churn

Rajiv Suri (left) and Anup Jain

In September, Orios Venture Partners had two of its managing partners, Anup Jain and Rajeev Suri, step down in back-to-back announcements.

Other big moves

SoftBank's Vikas Agnihotri

SoftBank Vision Fund’s operating partner Vikas Agnihotri left the firm after spending a little more than three years in September. Venture Highway founding partner Samir Sood quit the firm, Sistema Asia Capital senior partners Sumit Jain and Sampath P left the firm, whileTreebo founder Rahul Choudhary's joined Matrix Partners.

Investors and operators ETtech spoke to attribute the increased VC movement to non-performance of portfolio companies.

“Exits are fairly commonplace in more mature markets but it has been felt far more in India,” said Longhouse founder and chief executive Anshuman Das. The trend typically follows a bull market in VC deployment, he added, referring to the 2021 funding boom.

Boston- and London-based venture capital firm January Ventures' cofounder and partner Maren Bannon on Thursday sounded a tough set of predictions in the coming year. Among these were how 2024 will see “the great VC resignation,” new managers starting VC firms will increasingly be spin-outs from big firms, and how record amounts of dry powder will put downward pressure on returns.

The predictions, posted on LinkedIn, were based on Bannon’s conversations on expectations from fellow investors, limited partners and other experts in the startup ecosystem.