Lightspeed Venture Partners

Lightspeed was founded in 2000 by four enterprise founders who previously worked at Weiss, Peck & Greer and went to Stanford University together.

The firms early focus on enterprise technology was in stark contrast to the vast majority of venture capital funding which was focused on ecommerce and consumer investing.{{Cite web |title=Venture capital hits new high - Feb. 14, 2000 |url=https://money.cnn.com/2000/02/14/cashflow/survey/ |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=money.cnn.com}}

Lightspeeds early commitment to building its international presence began with its first international office in Tel-Aviv in 2006 following Yoni Cheifetz joining the firm.{{Cite web |last=Vidra |first=Eze |date=2008-05-12 |title=Lightspeed Venture Partners Oversubscribes Its Eight Fund, Raised $800M |url=https://www.vccafe.com/2008/05/12/lightspeed-venture-partners-oversubscribes-its-eight-fund-raised-800m/ |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=VC Cafe |language=en-US}} This effort soon extended to India when Bejul Somaia joined the firm in 2008 to begin the firms India practice{{Cite news |date=2023-06-15 |title=India not for the fainthearted, but worth it: Lightspeed's Bejul Somaia after Sequoia's exit |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/startups/lightspeeds-bejul-somaia-questions-whether-there-really-are-102-unicorns-in-india/articleshow/101012002.cms?from=mdr |access-date=2024-03-23 |work=The Economic Times |issn=0013-0389}} and then in Singapore in 2022.{{Cite web |url=https://citywire.com/asia/news/multi-stage-vc-opens-singapore-office-with-plan-to-deploy-billions/a1402004 |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=citywire.com}} For the next decade, Lightspeed Venture Partners largely remained an enterprise software and infrastructure specialists.

Lightspeed led the Series A in Riverbed Technology in 2002 which went on to become one of the largest enterprise IPOs in 2006.{{Cite web |last=Marshall |first=Matt |date=2006-09-22 |title=Shares of Riverbed soar 56.9 percent in IPO |url=https://venturebeat.com/business/shares-of-riverbed-soar-569-percent-in-ipo/ |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=VentureBeat |language=en-US}}

Lightspeed led the Series B of Mulesoft in 2007 which went on to IPO in 2017{{Cite web |last=Taylor |first=Anita Balakrishnan,Harriet |date=2017-03-17 |title=Mulesoft IPO beats Snap in first-day trading |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/17/mulesoft-soars-44-at-ipo.html |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=CNBC |language=en}} before less than a year later being acquired by Salesforce for $6.5 billion.{{Cite web |last=Balakrishnan |first=Anita |date=2018-03-20 |title=Salesforce agrees to buy MuleSoft in $6.5 billion deal |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/20/salesforce-agrees-to-buy-mulesoft-in-6-point-5-billion-deal.html |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=CNBC |language=en}}

Lightspeed led the Series A of Appdynamics in 2008 and on the eve of its expected IPO the company was acquired by Cisco for $3.7 billion in 2017.{{Cite web |last=Roof |first=Katie |date=2017-01-25 |title=Why the $3.7 billion AppDynamics acquisition happened right before IPO |url=https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/24/why-the-3-7-billion-appdynamics-acquisition-happened-right-before-ipo/ |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}}

Lightspeed led the Series A of Nutanix in 2010 and the company went public in 2017 with the stock soaring more than 130% in its public debut.{{Cite web |last=Gurdus |first=Anita Balakrishnan,Lizzy |date=2016-09-30 |title=Tech unicorn Nutanix pops more than 130% at public debut |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/30/tech-unicorn-nutanix-pops-at-public-debut-opens-at-2650-a-share-after-pricing-at-16.html |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=CNBC |language=en}}

Lightspeed led the Series B of Nest in 2011 and it was later acquired by Google for $3.2 billion in an all cash transaction in 2014.{{Cite web |last=Tilley |first=Aaron |title=Google Acquires Smart Thermostat Maker Nest For $3.2 Billion |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/aarontilley/2014/01/13/google-acquires-nest-for-3-2-billion/ |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=Forbes |language=en}}

Lightspeed led the Series C of Nicira in 2011 which was acquired by VMWare a year later for $1.2 billion.{{Cite web |date=2012-07-23 |title=VMware Buys Nicira For $1.26 Billion And Gives More Clues About Cloud Strategy |url=https://techcrunch.com/2012/07/23/vmware-buys-nicira-for-1-26-billion-and-gives-more-clues-about-cloud-strategy/ |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}}

In 2012, Lightspeed became the first venture investor in Snap Inc., a year after Snapchat was launched.{{cite news|title=Who's Going to Be a Billionaire? The Biggest Winners of Snap's I.P.O.|work=The New York Times |date=3 February 2017 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/business/dealbook/snapchat-ipo-billionaire.html|last1=Benner |first1=Katie }} Snapchat raised $485,000 in its seed round and an undisclosed amount of bridge funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners in 2012.{{cite news|url=https://techcrunch.com/2012/10/29/billion-snapchats/|title=You Know What's Cool? A Billion Snapchats: App Sees Over 20 Million Photos Shared Per Day, Releases On Android|date=October 29, 2012|newspaper=TechCrunch|accessdate=December 22, 2012|author=Gallagher, Billy}} Lightspeed Venture Partners was the fourth largest shareholder during Snap's IPO in 2017.{{Citation

| last =Winkler

| first =Rolfe

| date =February 3, 2017

| title =Snap IPO Will Mint Fortunes for Founders, Two Big Investors

| publisher =Wall Street Journal

| publication-place =New York City

| url =https://www.wsj.com/articles/snap-ipo-will-mint-fortunes-for-founders-two-big-investors-1486117806?tesla=y

| accessdate =January 4, 2017}}

Lightspeed led the Series B in Affirm in 2013 and later went public in 2021 at nearly a $30 billion dollar market capitalization.{{Cite web |title= Affirm Almost Doubles in Debut After $1.2 Billion IPO|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-13/affirm-shares-almost-double-in-debut-after-1-2-billion-u-s-ipo |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=www.bloomberg.com|date=13 January 2021 }}

Lightspeed led the Series C of Guardant Health in 2014 which went public in 2018.{{Cite web |last=Daily |first=Investor's Business |date=2018-10-04 |title=Guardant Health IPO Raises $238 Million, Soars In First Trades |url=https://www.investors.com/news/technology/guardant-health-ipo/ |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=Investor's Business Daily |language=en-US}}

Lightspeed led the Series A of Rubrik in 2014 and is the largest shareholder in the company.{{Cite web |last=Dorbian |first=Iris |date=2015-03-24 |title=Rubrik pulls in $10 mln Series A |url=https://www.venturecapitaljournal.com/rubrik-pulls-in-10-mln-series-a/ |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=Venture Capital Journal |language=en-US}} Rubrik was founded by Bipul Sinha, a Venture Partner at Lightspeed.{{Cite web |title=Bipul Sinha |url=https://lsvp.com/team-member/bipul-sinha/ |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=Lightspeed Venture Partners |language=en}}

Lightspeed seeded Forty Seven in 2015 and the company was later acquired by Gilead for $4.9 billion in 2020.{{Cite web |title=Gilead to Acquire Forty Seven for $4.9 Billion |url=https://www.gilead.com/news-and-press/press-room/press-releases/2020/3/gilead-to-acquire-forty-seven-for-49-billion |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=www.gilead.com |language=en}}

Lightspeed is the seed investor in Navan,{{Cite web |last=Stone |first=Madeline |title=These 7 travel startups have raised millions in VC money during the depths of the pandemic, as investors bet on travel roaring back |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/tripactions-sonder-among-travel-startups-raising-money-amid-pandemic-2021-3 |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US}} the seed investor in Mistral,{{Cite web |last=Lunden |first=Ingrid |date=2023-06-13 |title=France's Mistral AI blows in with a $113M seed round at a $260M valuation to take on OpenAI |url=https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/13/frances-mistral-ai-blows-in-with-a-113m-seed-round-at-a-260m-valuation-to-take-on-openai/ |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}} the seed investor in Thoughtspot,{{Cite web |last=Rao |first=Leena |date=2014-02-05 |title=ThoughtSpot Raises $10.7M From Lightspeed To Offer Intelligent Search And Data Visualization To The Enterprise |url=https://techcrunch.com/2014/02/05/thoughtspot-raises-10-7m-from-lightspeed-to-offer-intelligent-search-and-data-visualization-to-the-enterprise/ |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}} the seed investor in [https://www.ultimagenomics.com/ Ultima Genomics],{{Cite web |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2022/06/01/ultima-genomics-comes-out-of-stealth.html |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=www.bizjournals.com}} the seed of [https://orcabio.com/ Orca Bio],{{Cite web |url=https://app.dealroom.co/companies/orca_bio |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=app.dealroom.co}} the Series A investor in Ai search company Glean Technologies,{{Cite web |last=Mhatre |first=Ravi |date=2024-02-27 |title=Glean is the AI-powered work assistant enterprises desperately need |url=https://lsvp.com/stories/glean-is-the-ai-powered-work-assistant-enterprises-desperately-need/ |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=Lightspeed Venture Partners |language=en}} the Series A investor in Grafana,{{Cite web |title=Grafana Labs Closes Series A |url=https://grafana.com/about/press/2019/10/24/grafana-labs-closes-series-a/ |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=Grafana Labs |language=en}} the series B of B2B marketplace [https://www.faire.com/ Faire]{{Cite web |last=Clark |first=Kate |date=2018-12-14 |title=VCs back wholesale marketplace Faire with $100M at a $535M valuation |url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/13/distinguished-vcs-back-wholesale-marketplace-faire-with-100m-at-a-535m-valuation/ |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}} and the Series C of Cato Networks.{{Cite web |title=series c cato lightspeed - Google Search |url=https://www.google.com/search?q=series+c+cato+lightspeedA |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=www.google.com}}

In 2018, the company invested in Multiverse, a British educational technology company.{{Cite web |date=2018-09-03 |title=WhiteHat announces Seed Funding Round |url=https://www.multiverse.io/en-GB/blog/apprenticeship-startup-whitehat-raises--4-million-in-seed-funding-from-lightspeed-venture-partners- |access-date=2025-06-03 |website=www.multiverse.io |language=en-GB}} In June 2022, Lightspeed reinvested in the company as part of a $220 million investment round.{{Cite web |last=Lunden |first=Ingrid |date=2022-06-08 |title=Multiverse nabs $220M at a $1.7B valuation to expand its tech apprenticeship platform |url=https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/08/multiverse-nabs-220m-at-a-1-7b-valuation-to-expand-its-tech-apprenticeship-platform/ |access-date=2025-06-03 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}}

In 2022, Lightspeed raised $7.1 billion{{Cite web |date=2022-07-12 |title=Lightspeed Raises Over $7 Billion to Fund Early and Growth-Stage Entrepreneurs Around the Globe |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220712005073/en/Lightspeed-Raises-Over-7-Billion-to-Fund-Early-and-Growth-Stage-Entrepreneurs-Around-the-Globe |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=www.businesswire.com |language=en}} across four flagship funds including Lightspeed Venture Partners XIV-A/B, L.P. (“Fund XIV”) with $1.98 billion, Lightspeed Venture Partners Select V, L.P. (“Select Fund V”) with $2.26 billion, and Lightspeed Opportunity Fund II, L.P. (“Opportunity Fund II”) with $2.36 billion of committed capital. Separately, Lightspeed India Partners today announced the closing of a $500M early stage fund (“LSIP Fund IV”) as well as a partnership with blockchain firm, [https://www.faction.vc/ Lightspeed Faction].

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.

In March 2016, the company raised two new funds totaling in $1.2 billion.{{Cite web |last=Loizos |first=Connie |date=9 March 2016 |title=Lightspeed Venture Partners Raises $1.2 Billion |url=https://techcrunch.com/2016/03/09/lightspeed-venture-partners-raises-1-2-billion/ |access-date=2016-04-05 |website=TechCrunch}}

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.{{Cite web |title=Business Insider: How to Remain King of the World amidst Titanic Disruptions |url=http://mobile.businessinsider.com/how-to-remain-king-of-the-world-amidst-titanic-disruptions-2012-12/ |accessdate=2013-02-25}}

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• [http://www.lsvp.com Lightspeed Venture Partners] (Company website)
• [https://lsvp.com/global-presence/lightspeed-india/ Lightspeed India Partners]{{refend}}

{{Venture capital firms}}

Category:Financial services companies established in 2000

Category:Companies based in Menlo Park, California

Category:Venture capital firms of the United States