Lightspeed India Monthly Round-Up

As we look back at November ‘24, we reflect on a month filled with new partnerships, news, events and insights. #NovemberwithLightspeedIndia

PARTNERSHIPS

Wheelocity

Excited to double down on our partnership with Selvam VMS, Senthil Kumar and the Wheelocity team as they work towards their mission of bringing commerce to India’s semi-urban and rural markets! Read more about it on Techcrunch.

Bhanzu

Thrilled to continue our partnership with Bhanzu in their mission to make math learning engaging, accessible, and impactful for students around the world. Read more on Moneycontrol.com.

Airbound

We’re excited to partner with Naman Pushp and the team at Airbound as they redefine logistics with their advanced drone technology. With a development philosophy centered on deep impact, Airbound is solving the problem of cost-efficiency in drone delivery while pioneering path-breaking products to tap into the vast potential of drones in revolutionizing logistics. Read about it in Forbes.

READ, LISTEN AND WATCH 👀

Lightspeed India, in partnership with Rahul Sanghi from Tigerfeathers, presents the story of Pixxel – a journey whose seeds were sown in the small towns of Chikkamagaluru and Malkapur and that took shape at BITS Pilani. Read on to follow the inspiring journey of two founders whose resilience and bold vision are reshaping Earth observation in the new space age.

In an interview with Anurag Joshi from ET NOW, Anuj Bhargava shared insight & highlighted an interesting bifurcation in the rise of pre-IPO opportunities, strong equity market activity, and the IPO outlook for 2025 while showcasing how Lightspeed-backed firms are navigating these trends with liquidity strategies and sustainable growth. Watch the full interview.

In a Business Standard article on the evolving IPO landscape in India, Anuj Bhargava highlights the strength of India’s IPO market, emphasizing its growing role as a key exit strategy for investors in both the listed and unlisted markets. Read the full article. 

Introducing Lunch Break with Lightspeed, where we dive into the lesser-known parts of the startup journey and explore what it takes to build extraordinary companies. In the first episode, Romit Mehta sits down with Vivek Gambhir, Venture Partner at Lightspeed India and former Godrej CEO, where they discuss how to build challenger brands and create lasting customer loyalty. Tune in for some great insights on disrupting the status quo, building true customer connections, and scaling from seed to IPO. 

Expert Insights

Anshoo Sharma is the Founder and CEO of magicpin, a leading app connecting consumers to local retailers across food, fashion, groceries, and wellness. Through magicpin, users discover nearby deals, earn rewards for their purchases, and enjoy savings at partner stores.

Aayush Ghosh Choudhury is the Co-Founder and CEO of Scrut Automation, a compliance automation platform in the Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) space. It streamlines risk assessment, continuous monitoring, and the management of multiple compliance audits—all through a single, unified interface.

LIMITLESS BY LIGHTSPEED

How Bhanzu Solved the Global Maths Problem

Bhanzu, an edtech company humanizing math globally, has reached diverse markets through strategic expansion, cultural adaptation, and innovative tech. Read this article for key insights from founder and CEO Neelakantha Bhanu Prakash on how cross-border founders can tailor their products to fit local preferences and educational systems.

Subscribe to Limitless to join our community of cross-border entrepreneurs!

LIGHTSPEED EVENTS

During a panel discussion at the NVIDIA AI Summit, Hemant Mohapatra, alongside industry leaders, discussed AI scaling levers—Compute, Data, and Algorithms—and India’s potential to lead globally.  

At the Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association (IVCA) IPO & Exit Strategies Forum 2024, Anuj Bhargava joined a panel discussion on Catalyzing Indian Exits: The Strategic Role of Private Capital. The discussion highlighted India’s growing venture and IPO market, with Anuj emphasizing emerging, sustainable pre-IPO exit channels and continued strong IPO activity ahead.

At the Global AI Conclave, organized by moneycontrol.com and CNBC-TV18, Hemant Mohapatra joined fellow venture partners to deliberate on ‘What are Indian VCs Investing in’. The panel unpacked India’s AI promise, covering opportunities in the AI landscape, global comparisons, exit opportunities, consolidation trends, and the rising potential of LLMs and foundational models in the application layer.

Lightspeed and Amazon Web Services hosted a SaaS founders mixer where Freshworks' Alumni and SaaS founders came together to share their insights and growth stories, and discuss innovations shaping the future. 

Lightspeed and January Capital co-organized an expert event in San Francisco, featuring Dev Khare, Tom Hamer, Co-Founder and CEO at Marqo, and Kieran Donovan, Co-Founder and CEO at k-ID, where they connected with APAC founders and shared insights on the art and science of fundraising, making the move to the US, hiring and scaling strategies in the US, and building business in San Francisco.  

MOMENTS WORTH A MENTION

We're thrilled to partner with Razorpay and Peak XV Partners in launching the Razorpay Venture Investment Program, aimed at accelerating India’s early-stage ecosystem through capital and tech support, as well as access to Razorpay’s extensive distribution and payments infrastructure.

We are excited to partner with Salesforce Ventures on the first-ever edition of AI Pitchfield, a startup pitch contest, where B2B SaaS, AI-first, and AI-enabled startups from India and ASEAN will compete for $100K funding.

Thank you for joining us as we recap the highlights of November. For daily updates, follow us on our LinkedIn page or subscribe to receive our monthly round-up directly in your inbox!