MENLO PARK, Calif.– Lightspeed Venture Partners has announced the successful closing of multiple new funds, totaling a significant capital infusion aimed at bolstering its global investment strategy. This announcement includes Lightspeed Venture Partners XIV-A/B, L.P. (Fund XIV) with $1.98 billion, Lightspeed Venture Partners Select V, L.P. (Select Fund V) securing $2.26 billion, and Lightspeed Opportunity Fund II, L.P. (Opportunity Fund II) with $2.36 billion in committed capital. In a parallel announcement, Lightspeed India Partners revealed the launch of a $500M early-stage fund, LSIP Fund IV. Adding to these developments, Lightspeed also unveiled Lightspeed Faction, an independent team dedicated to leveraging Lightspeed’s extensive history of supporting groundbreaking founders in blockchain infrastructure.
This substantial funding round, approximately 60% larger than Lightspeed’s previous flagship fundraise, underscores the firm’s strategic emphasis on expanding its early-stage investment capabilities and strengthening its extensive global platform. Lightspeed Venture Partners continues to champion exceptional entrepreneurs across diverse sectors, geographies, and stages of their entrepreneurial journey, operating from twelve global offices spanning six countries. Since its inception, Lightspeed has forged partnerships with over 500 founders in Enterprise, Consumer, Health, and Fintech industries, with an impressive track record of roughly a quarter of these companies being acquired or going public, including 33 IPOs to date.
Lightspeed Venture Partners XIV-A/B, L.P.: Focusing on Early-Stage Innovation
The $1.98 billion Lightspeed Venture Partners XIV-A/B, L.P., is specifically structured to empower founders at the nascent stages of company development within Lightspeed’s core sectors: Enterprise, Consumer, Health, and Fintech. This fund reinforces Lightspeed’s commitment to investing at the earliest points of innovation, from initial incubation and Seed rounds to Series B funding, a cornerstone of their approach to nurturing and supporting companies throughout their growth trajectory.
Lightspeed has established itself as a pioneer in early-stage Enterprise investing over the past two decades, and maintains one of the largest dedicated teams in this domain. They remain at the forefront of investments in crucial areas such as infrastructure, cloud computing, cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence (AI), SaaS, and the evolving future of work. While the firm initially built its reputation on its Enterprise practice, it has successfully extended this expertise and success to its rapidly growing Consumer, Healthcare, and Fintech divisions.
Lightspeed recognizes the burgeoning potential of consumer companies emerging from increasingly diverse geographic locations and founded by diverse entrepreneurs. With Europe becoming a dynamic hub for startup activity, Lightspeed welcomed Paul Murphy in 2021 as a Partner to spearhead their European operations from the UK office. Demonstrating its commitment to diversity, over 30% of Lightspeed’s consumer investments are in female-founded companies, and 2021 marked a record year for geographical diversity in their investments.
Lightspeed’s Healthcare practice, with over $1.2 billion in distributions, has been dedicated to enhancing patient outcomes for the past decade. The firm initially recognized the transformative potential of health data with the advent of genomics, investing in diagnostics and cutting-edge platform technologies, subsequently expanding into biotherapeutics. In today’s landscape, where virtually every business is becoming a fintech business, Lightspeed Venture Partners has strategically invested over $1.5 billion in nearly 100 global Fintech companies, including $600 million specifically allocated to blockchain and emerging applications. To further strengthen their Fintech practice, Stripe and Yelp veteran Justin Overdorff joined as a Partner in 2021, establishing Lightspeed’s presence in New York City, where he is based.
Arif Janmohamed, Partner at Lightspeed, emphasized the firm’s investment philosophy: “We believe in investing at the earliest stages of innovation, partnering with generational entrepreneurs who possess a clear vision, an unwavering drive to build enduring companies, and the conviction and courage to compete and succeed against all odds. We are passionate about partnering with and even incubating companies addressing fundamental shifts in the enterprise landscape, and cultivating relationships with prospective entrepreneurs well before they are ready to embark on their company-building journey.”
Nicole Quinn, Partner at Lightspeed, further elaborated on their commitment to founders: “We pride ourselves on being the first institutional capital supporting our founders, providing the patience, persistence, and capital to help companies scale from a single employee to thousands, from inception to IPO. We are attuned to cultural trends and proactively engage with entrepreneurs wherever they are making their impact, meeting founders and innovators where they are driving change.”
Lightspeed Venture Partners Select V, L.P.: Scaling Growth-Stage Companies
As companies mature and achieve significant scale, they require a partner capable of supporting their ambitious growth trajectory to become category-defining entities. Lightspeed Venture Partners Select V, L.P., with $2.26 billion, is designed to accelerate the growth of existing Lightspeed Venture Partners portfolio companies, as well as new investments, across their global platform, spearheaded by the Lightspeed Growth Team. Select V solidifies Lightspeed’s capacity to back exceptional founders and high-performing companies, increasing their involvement as companies scale and enter the growth phase. Over the past six years, Lightspeed has deployed $2.2 billion in early growth companies. Notably, in the preceding two years, Lightspeed celebrated the IPOs and acquisitions of companies like Affirm, Blend, Clever, Grab, Hillevax, The Honest Company, Outbrain, Pensando, TeneoBio, and TeneoTwo, generating over $2.7 billion in liquidity for their limited partners.
Will Kohler, Partner at Lightspeed, reiterated the firm’s enduring mission: “Lightspeed’s mission remains consistent with our founding principles of over 20 years ago – to invest in founders and innovators building enduring companies worldwide. We are committed to investing in companies at scale, and like the companies we invest in, we must continuously innovate and evolve as a firm to be the best possible partners, better serving our founders and the companies they have created as they grow. These exceptional companies are remaining private for longer periods, and regardless of their geographic origin, founders’ ambitions are increasingly global to meet expanding market demand.”
Michael Romano, Chief Business Officer at Lightspeed, highlighted the firm’s forward-thinking approach: “We believe innovation is a continuous process requiring a comprehensive platform to support exceptional founders at every stage, in every sector, and in every geography throughout their journey, especially in dynamic markets like today’s. We have witnessed the transformative impact of venture capital on society and economies, and its own evolution in response to global events – the dot-com crash of 2000, the global financial crisis of 2009, and the current volatile market. This is why we strategically established a reinvestment team three years ago to prepare for market corrections.”
Lightspeed Opportunity Fund II, L.P. & Global Investment Team
Lightspeed Venture Partners has long championed the belief that innovation and entrepreneurship transcend geographical boundaries. 2021 witnessed a continued surge in global entrepreneurial talent, spanning from Europe and Latin America to Southeast Asia and numerous other regions. Lightspeed sourced and executed more international deals in 2021 than in any previous year of its twenty-year history, across all its funds. Lightspeed’s global presence and integrated approach across international teams have been crucial in supporting exceptional founders worldwide.
The Lightspeed Opportunity Fund II, L.P., with $2.36 billion, serves as a platform to support breakout companies across all global regions where Lightspeed operates. It is increasingly evident that entrepreneurship is a global phenomenon, and for over a decade, Lightspeed has collaborated with highly experienced partners in China, India, Israel, Europe, and Southeast Asia.
The successful closing of Lightspeed India IV at its $500 million hard-cap reflects the firm’s deepening commitment to the India and Southeast Asia region, since its initial investment in India in 2007. Alongside India IV, a dedicated early-stage fund, Lightspeed also invests in growth-stage companies in the India and Southeast Asia region through its Select and Opportunity funds. Over the past 5 years, Lightspeed’s presence in the region has expanded to 28 professionals across four locations (Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, and Singapore), establishing one of the largest venture advisory teams in the region.
Lightspeed has been a key partner to numerous category leaders in India, including Indian Energy Exchange, Oyo, Byju’s, Grab, Acko, Razorpay, Udaan, Sharechat, and Innovaccer. The firm continues to observe the broadening and deepening of opportunities in the region, driven by world-class founders and the expanding potential of technology to reshape the economies of India and Southeast Asia.
Since closing US $920 million of new funds in November 2021, Lightspeed China Partners has actively invested in sectors including green technology, deep technology, SaaS, and consumer technology. Lightspeed China Partners has made new investments in nearly 20 startups, ranging from ePropulsion, a leading manufacturer of electric boat propulsion systems, to Agilines, a cloud-native manufacturing design and collaboration platform. Lightspeed China Partners also celebrated two IPOs on the NYSE and Shanghai’s STAR Market in 2021 – Full Truck Alliance (NYSE:YMM) and QingCloud Technology (SH:688316) respectively – and two portfolio companies have filed for public listing this year.
As the future of venture capital becomes increasingly global, Lightspeed Venture Partners is strategically positioned to invest in and serve exceptional founders at any stage and in any geography, leveraging its extensive global network of investors and relationships. In line with this strategy, Lightspeed welcomed Bejul Somaia to its leadership team. Bejul contributes to the firm’s global strategy and operations, while continuing his advisory roles on investments in India, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Bejul joined Lightspeed in 2008 and brings significant experience in supporting entrepreneurs and building Lightspeed’s presence in India and Southeast Asia, where he will continue to advise on investments and support the region’s most promising founders.
Bejul Somaia, Partner at Lightspeed, commented on the firm’s global vision: “In the early 2000s, Lightspeed Venture Partners began building a global footprint based on our conviction that the future of technology and entrepreneurship would be global. Today, Lightspeed has 70 investors located across twelve cities worldwide. By intentionally forming cross-border deal teams, we can offer founders local market expertise and relationships, combined with deep sector-specific knowledge. This approach allows us to be exposed to and learn from the innovation happening globally, ultimately better serving our founders.”
Lightspeed Faction: Embracing the Blockchain Revolution
Lightspeed Venture Partners proudly announced the launch of Faction, an independent crypto-native team, marking the culmination of nine years of investment in leading blockchain companies. Faction is dedicated to driving transformation within the blockchain ecosystem. Faction (https://www.faction.vc/) comprises experienced blockchain veterans who collaborate with the global Lightspeed Venture Partners platform to support exceptional founders globally. The senior Faction team is led by Sam Harrison and Banafsheh Fathieh, supported by a growing team of crypto-native investors.
Faction believes the innovation economy is on the cusp of a significant computing paradigm shift, with blockchain companies pioneering emerging applications that will redefine both fundamental IT infrastructure and various industries. From Fintech to Consumer, Enterprise, and Healthcare, the team observes how blockchain companies are poised to fundamentally reshape business organization, distributed computing systems, and entire economies and platforms. Blockchain is transforming network participant incentives, startup funding within this ecosystem, and the ability of communities to collectively leverage their power for change.
Sam Harrison, Managing Partner, and Banafsheh Fathieh, General Partner, Lightspeed Faction, stated: “Blockchains have enabled new use cases that we believe will supersede notable legacy systems. Faction’s joint venture with Lightspeed Venture Partners combines a crypto-native team with the company-scaling expertise of the Lightspeed platform.”
Ravi Mhatre, Partner at Lightspeed, added: “Lightspeed has been selectively investing in crypto since March 2013, and we believe that cryptocurrency can positively impact underbanked and unbanked populations globally, not just in the U.S. We believe the industry is still in the early stages of transitioning from web2 to web3, and the collaboration between Lightspeed and Faction reflects our shared conviction in the potential of cryptocurrency to foster a web that better serves underserved communities worldwide.”
Collectively, this capital framework positions Lightspeed Venture Partners and its partners to continue supporting pioneering founding teams, technologies, and trends that are accelerating the innovation economy. Lightspeed remains steadfast in its mission to serve the world’s most extraordinary individuals who are building tomorrow’s companies today.
About Lightspeed Venture Partners
Lightspeed Venture Partners is a multi-stage venture capital firm dedicated to accelerating disruptive innovations and trends within the Enterprise, Consumer, Health, and Fintech sectors. Over the past two decades, the Lightspeed Venture Partners team has supported hundreds of entrepreneurs and contributed to building over 500 companies globally, including notable names like Affirm, Carta, Cato Networks, Epic Games, Faire, Forty Seven, FTX, Guardant Health, MuleSoft, Netskope, Nutanix, Rubrik, Sharechat, Snap, TripActions, Udaan, Ultima Genomics, and many more. Lightspeed and its global team currently manage $18 billion across the Lightspeed platform, with investment professionals and advisors located in the U.S., China, Europe, India, Israel, and Southeast Asia. www.lsvp.com
Contacts
Meredith Kendall Maines
Marketing Partner, Lightspeed
T: (310) 739-6867
E: [email protected]
