Lightspeed is strengthening its investment strategy in India with plans to raise $250 million for a new early stage fund focused heavily on artificial intelligence. 

The venture capital firm, which has invested in AI companies including Anthropic, xAI and Databricks, has also backed Sarvam AI, one of India’s leading developers of large language models.

The new Lightspeed India Partners V fund will be half the size of the firm’s previous $500 million India fund, which was raised in 2022. 

According to an investor letter, the firm has already secured commitments for about 80 percent of its target. 

Lightspeed plans to begin investing from the new fund within two months and expects to deploy the capital over approximately two and a half years.

The firm’s latest strategy places AI at the centre of its early stage investments in India and Southeast Asia. 

Lightspeed expects artificial intelligence to create significant opportunities in India, particularly at the application layer, where the country’s large pool of software developers and established technology services industry could support the growth of AI startups. 

Its Indian portfolio has previously covered sectors including quick commerce, consumer internet, software and household services.

Lightspeed has invested about $900 million through its dedicated India and Southeast Asia funds, while its global funds have contributed another $1.6 billion to companies from the regional portfolio. 

The firm manages more than $65 billion in assets globally and raised $9 billion across several funds last December. 

The same team that managed Lightspeed’s previous four India funds will oversee the new vehicle.

Source: TechCrunch