Lightspeed targets $250M for new India fund, focusing on early-stage AI

Lightspeed is sharpening its India strategy around artificial intelligence with a new early-stage vehicle, Lightspeed India Partners V, that targets $250 million and has already secured roughly 80% of its goal, according to an investor letter seen by TechCrunch. The new fund is roughly half the size of the firm’s 2022 India fund and is designed for a shorter investment period of about two and a half years; Lightspeed said it plans to start investing from the vehicle within two months and will finish deploying its prior fund in the meantime.

The firm is also moving its India funds onto the same fundraising cycle as its global funds for the first time, a change the investor letter framed as bringing the regional operation closer in line with the rest of the firm. A U.S. regulatory filing in late April disclosed the existence of the new fund but did not state its target size; Indian media had earlier reported a larger fundraising range of $300 million to $350 million. A Lightspeed spokesperson declined to comment to TechCrunch.

Lightspeed described the smaller fund size as matching its current pace of investing and enabling it to concentrate on individual deals, with the expectation of raising a subsequent fund sooner. The letter also set out a sharper thematic focus on AI for the region, saying the firm expects AI to generate more value in India than the internet did and that it will seek AI companies across both India and Southeast Asia. Lightspeed’s regional portfolio already includes AI-backed businesses such as Sarvam AI and a range of consumer and enterprise companies, including Zepto, Pocket FM, Snabbit, SolarSquare and others.

The India vehicle represents a fractional portion of Lightspeed’s broader capital base: the firm manages more than $65 billion in assets globally and raised about $9 billion across several funds last December, which included a $980 million early-stage fund. Per the investor letter, Lightspeed’s dedicated India and Southeast Asia funds have deployed roughly $900 million to date, and the firm’s global funds have provided an additional $1.6 billion to support companies from the regional portfolio. The same team that led the previous four India funds will manage the new vehicle.