Lightspeed Venture to invest in Indian firms

Lightspeed Venture Partners, a US-based early-stage venture capital firm, is eyeing Indian firms for the purpose of investment. Lightspeed has invested over $800 million in more than 100 companies over the past two decades and has for the first time brought India on its radar.

Ajit Deora, venture partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners, told Business Standard, "Our Fund 7, which is worth $475 million, will be investing in companies in the US, Israel, China and India. While we have been investing in the US since a fairly long time and in Israel since the last 15 years, in China it has been over the last three-odd years. This year, we have brought India into focus as well."

Some of Lightspeed's global investments have been in datacentre infrastructure companies like NeoScale Systems, digital media and consumer electronics companies like D2Audio and Internet retailers like Blue Nile.

In India, Lightspeed is in discussions with firms that focus on Internet and mobile technologies and financial services. Deora said that since they were still beginning to venture into India, they would be involved in early-stage, mid-stage and late-stage funding but would rule out seed funding for the time being.

While Deora declined to divulge the amount of funds that would be invested in Indian companies, he said that the investment would be spread over 3-4 years.