Lightspeed Venture to Start Operations in Singapore to Scale Up Its Southeast Asia Investments The early stage venture capital firm will dig into its global fund of USD 4 billion, which was closed in April this year, to invest in the Southeast Asian market, with key focus on Indonesia and Singapore
By Shipra Singh
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Backer of multi-billion-dollar firms like Snap and Grab, Lightspeed Venture Capital is ready to set up base in Singapore to expand into Southeast Asian market.
The early stage venture capital firm will dig into its global fund of USD 4 billion, which was closed in April this year, to invest in the Southeast Asian market, with key focus on Indonesia and Singapore.
"Southeast Asia is one of the world's fastest-growing economies and startup ecosystems, and this is due in no small part to the region's extraordinary entrepreneurial talent. We believe the startup ecosystem will continue its significant expansion and are excited to partner with entrepreneurs as they build and scale disruptive companies," said Akshay Bhushan, Partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Lightspeed Ventures has already made investments in some of the prominent tech startups in the Southeast Asian market, including the likes of ride-hailing company Grab (Singapore), social commerce platform Chilibeli (Indonesia), hospitality major Oyo Rooms (India), B2B marketplace app Ula (Indonesia), B2B commerce platform Udaan (India) and enterprise artificial intelligence software provider NextBillion.ai (Singapore), among others.
Additionally, the company said many of its portfolio companies are scaling up business in Southeast Asia and have regional headquarters in Singapore, such as Snap, OYO Rooms, Yellow Messenger and Darwinbox among others.
"With a large, tech-savvy and young population, Southeast Asia is leading the charge in technology-driven innovation. We have a strong belief in the opportunities here and the capabilities that founders of this region have demonstrated," said Bejul Somaia, Partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners.
The firm's Southeast Asia's operations will be steered by Pinn Lawjindakul, Marsha Sumana, Akshay Bhushan and Baijul Somaia.
Since its inception in 2000, Lightspeed has invested in over 300 companies globally, including marquee firms like Snap (company behind Snapchat), GrubHub, Nest, Nutanix, AppDynamics, and MuleSoft and currently manages over USD10 billion of committed capital.
"Our mission at Lightspeed has stayed the same, even as our global presence has expanded from Silicon Valley, Israel and China to India, Europe and now Southeast Asia: to support the bold entrepreneurs who are building tomorrow's companies today," said Ravi Mhatre, Founder and Managing Director, Lightspeed Venture Partners.
