Lightspeed Venture raises over $4B to fund early and growth-stage entrepreneurs amid coronavirus
VC firm Lightspeed Venture said that it will continue to invest in startups and back entrepreneurs even in the time of global pandemic of coronavirus.
Lightspeed Venture Partners has raised over $4 billion for three new funds to support early and growth-stage entrepreneurs across the world.
According to a statement, the California-based venture capital firm closed the Lightspeed Venture Partners XIII, L.P. with $890 million, Lightspeed Venture Partners Select IV, L.P. with $1.83 billion, and Lightspeed Opportunity Fund, L.P. (“Opportunity Fund”) with $1.5 billion of limited partner committed capital.
“Lightspeed’s global and multi-stage strategy supports exceptional entrepreneurs, in any geography, and at any point in their entrepreneurial journey,” it added.
"Our global portfolio, which spans China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the US, gives us a view on everything that affects startups, ranging from early regional economic trends to spotting similar opportunities to serve consumers, small businesses, and enterprises seeking new, innovative product needs across geographies,” said Ravi Mhatre, Partner at Lightspeed Venture.
The venture capital firm stated that in these difficult times, as the world fights a pandemic, it remains focussed on this mission; to serve the world’s most extraordinary people building tomorrow’s companies, today. Not just in good times, but in all times.
“This pandemic has transformed both the personal and professional lives of employees, founders, and investors, and will continue to present challenges in the coming months,” the statement said.
The three funds raised by Lightspeed will support startups and entrepreneurs across stages be it seed, Series A and growth capital.
“We are editors, not writers,” said Nicole Quinn, Partner at Lightspeed Venture, “Our job is not to see the future ourselves, but to recognise those outlier entrepreneurs who do, and to support them in every way as they do the work to build industry-changing businesses of tomorrow.”
At present, Lightspeed and its affiliates manage $10.5 billion across Silicon Valley, Israel, India, China, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Over the past two decades, it has invested in over 400 companies including Snap, Nest, Nutanix, , , , Guardant, StitchFix, and GrubHub.
Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta