Lightspeed Venture Partners
Founded2000
Founder
  • Barry Eggers
  • Christopher Schaepe
  • Ravi Mhatre
  • Peter Nieh
HeadquartersMenlo Park, California, United States
Area served
United States, Israel, India, China, Europe, Southeast Asia
ProductsGrowth capital, Private equity, Venture capital
Websitewww.lsvp.com

Lightspeed Venture Partners is an American venture capital firm focusing on early-stage investments in the enterprise, consumer, and health sectors. Lightspeed has ten offices globally.[1]

History

The firm was founded in October 2000 by when investors from Weiss, Peck & Greer left to start Lightspeed following the sale of the investment management business to Robeco. Jeremy Liew joined the firm in 2006 as its first consumer tech-focused partner.[1] For the next decade, Lightspeed Venture Partners largely remained an enterprise software and infrastructure specialist.[1]

In 2012, Lightspeed became the first venture investor in Snap Inc., a year after Snapchat was launched.[2] Snapchat raised $485,000 in its seed round and an undisclosed amount of bridge funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners in 2012.[3] Lightspeed Venture Partners was the fourth largest shareholder during Snap's IPO in 2017[4]

In 2019, one of Lightspeed's founders was ousted following reports that he was involved in the Varsity Blues college admissions bribery scandal.[5] In November 2021, The Wall Street Journal reported that Lightspeed and other U.S firms' ongoing investments in the Chinese semiconductor industry raised U.S. national security concerns.[6] In the same month, Lightspeed China Partners closed an additional $920M of funding.[7]

Funding

In 2014, Lightspeed closed Lightspeed X, a $1 billion fund focused on the Enterprise, Consumer and Cleantech markets. As of 2012, the firm had $3 billion in committed capital.[8]

In March 2016, the company raised two new funds totaling in $1.2 billion.[9]

In April 2020, Lightspeed Venture Partners raised $4.2 billion across three funds: $890 million for its latest early-stage venture fund, a $1.83 billion growth fund for later-stage investments, and a $1.5 billion opportunity fund for doubling down on winners in its international portfolio.[1]

In 2022, Lightspeed raised $7.1 billion across four funds and also launched joint crypto and blockchain partnerships.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Alex Konrad (April 14, 2020). "VC Firm Lightspeed Raises $4 Billion In Startup Landscape Shaken By COVID-19". Forbes. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
  2. ^ Benner, Katie (3 February 2017). "Who's Going to Be a Billionaire? The Biggest Winners of Snap's I.P.O." The New York Times.
  3. ^ Gallagher, Billy (October 29, 2012). "You Know What's Cool? A Billion Snapchats: App Sees Over 20 Million Photos Shared Per Day, Releases On Android". TechCrunch. Retrieved December 22, 2012.
  4. ^ Winkler, Rolfe (February 3, 2017), Snap IPO Will Mint Fortunes for Founders, Two Big Investors, New York City: Wall Street Journal, retrieved January 4, 2017
  5. ^ Loizos, Connie (2019-03-27). "Lightspeed co-founder Chris Schaepe is out over college admissions scandal; a sports blogger exposed his son's involvement". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-01-15.
  6. ^ O'Keeffe, Kate; Somerville, Heather; Jie, Yang (2021-11-12). "U.S. Companies Aid China's Bid for Chip Dominance Despite Security Concerns". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  7. ^ "Lightspeed China raises $920M for new funds, adds five partners". 30 November 2021.
  8. ^ "Business Insider: How to Remain King of the World amidst Titanic Disruptions". Retrieved 2013-02-25.
  9. ^ Loizos, Connie (9 March 2016). "Lightspeed Venture Partners Raises $1.2 Billion". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  10. ^ Jessica Matthews (July 12, 2022). "Exclusive: Lightspeed raises $7.1B across four funds and forms new crypto fund with Blockchain Ventures vet". Fortune. Retrieved October 7, 2022.

External links

Private equity and venture capital investment firms
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