Lightspeed India, known for its bets on Byju’s, Oyo and ShareChat, has formed a dedicated growth team that will be spearheaded by Aditya Sharma, who had joined from private equity firm TA Associates last year.
VCCircle reported about Sharma's hiring last month. As part of its growth investments, Lightspeed had already bet on Acko and CredAvenue. Historically, growth capital to its existing portfolios in India have been funded through its global funds.
Sharma (Partner) will be supported by Anuvrat Jain (Senior Associate) and Shreyam Desai (Associate), said Bejul Somaia, Partner at Lightspeed India in a LinkedIn post.
The venture capital firm has also opened its third India office in Mumbai.
"As with other regions, the Lightspeed growth and venture teams work together closely to leverage our collective knowledge and perspectives of different sectors and opportunities, often drawing on the experience of our partners in China, Europe, and the US," said Somaia.
Prior to joining Lightspeed, Sharma was principal at TA Associates. He had joined TA Associates in 2008 as an associate. He was actively involved in the firm’s investments in Atria Convergence Technologies, Dr Lal PathLabs, IndiaIdeas.com, Shilpa Medicare, TCNS Clothing Company and Tega Industries.
Previously, he worked in the telecoms and media investment banking division at Lehman Brothers in London. Sharma received a BSc degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and an MBA degree from The Wharton School of Business.
Jain and Desai had also joined Lightspeed last year. Prior to joining Lightspeed, Jain was an associate at private equity firm ChrysCapital and Desai was an investment banking analyst at UBS.
Lightspeed has invested over $1 billion in India since 2007. It sharpened its focus on the country after launching its India dedicated fund in 2015. It is currently investing out of its third fund of $275 million that was raised in 2020.