Lightspeed closes VIII, LP at $800 mn

BANGALORE, INDIA:  Lightspeed Venture Partners announced the closing of Lightspeed Venture Partners VIII, LP capitalized with $800 million of limited partner commitments.

"We are pleased by the strong response from our limited partners," said Barry Eggers, managing director. "The new fund will leverage our investment platform to support the creation of industry-leading companies in India, China, Israel and the US."

Lightspeed has a global investment platform. In India and China, Lightspeed is pursuing a balanced investment program encompassing early-stage technology companies as well as growth-stage companies in a range of product and service businesses.

In India specifically, Lightspeed's investment interest is in technology-led opportunities, as well as in non-technology businesses stemming from the strong growth in domestic consumption and infrastructure investment. In the US and Israel, Lightspeed will continue to focus on seed and early-stage companies primarily in information technology and cleantech markets. 

"Lightspeed investment professionals have been investing internationally for over 10 years, and we expect to deploy substantial capital in India given the large number of high quality start-ups and growth companies here," observed Srini Vudayagiri, a managing director at Lightspeed.