Lightspeed Venture Partners Research
Investment Thesis
Lightspeed Venture Partners is a multi-stage global venture capital firm serving bold builders and category-defining founders from Seed to Series F and beyond. For over 20 years, Lightspeed has been the first investor and early backer of some of the world's most innovative companies. The fund positions itself as a deep partner committed to complete immersion and unwavering conviction through market cycles.
Core Philosophy
Lightspeed's core belief centers on depth: depth of commitment (rolling up sleeves), depth of relationships (authenticity and trust), and depth of belief (navigating peaks and valleys together). This depth-driven approach distinguishes Lightspeed from speculators and opportunists, emphasizing creation together rather than funding from afar.
Stage Focus
Lightspeed operates as a true multi-stage investor:
- Seed: Supporting founders with big ideas
- Series A/B: Companies with product-market fit ready to scale
- Series C-F: Growth through maturity
- Growth: Full-stack capability post-2022 fundraise
The firm explicitly backs companies across all stages with high conviction and follow-on deployment capability.
Check Size
Lightspeed writes checks across a wide range based on stage and opportunity. Recent activity shows:
- Seed: $1M-$5M typical
- Series A/B: $10M-$50M typical
- Series C+: $50M-$300M+
- Note: Led Ramp's $300M Series F, demonstrating upper-range capability
Lead Tendency
Lightspeed leads, co-leads, or participates based on conviction and opportunity. The firm positions itself as a first investor and maintains consistent lead positions across portfolio.
Recent Activity (2025-2026)
Lightspeed closed over $9B in new funds in December 2025, plus $1.25B in single investor vehicles. Recent investments demonstrate active deployment:
- February 2026: Invested in Resolve AI (AI for production)
- February 2026: Invested in ElevenLabs (voice AI, $300M+ ARR)
- December 2025: Ramp $300M Series F (intelligence layer for finance)
- Throughout 2025: Consistent investments in AI infrastructure, security, fintech, healthcare
- Fund status: Actively deploying fresh capital
Portfolio Highlights
Major Exits (IPO/Acquisition):
- Stripe (unicorn/private)
- Rubrik (IPO, cybersecurity)
- Netskope (IPO, security)
- Navan (IPO, December 2024, business travel)
- Snap (IPO, consumer)
- Affirm (IPO, fintech)
- Nutanix (IPO, infrastructure)
- Grafana (strong exit)
- Mulesoft (acquired by Salesforce)
- AppDynamics (acquired)
- Guardant Health (IPO, healthcare)
Current Major Holdings:
- Anthropic (Series F deepening, AI safety)
- Wiz (unicorn, cloud security)
- Faire (unicorn, marketplace)
- ThoughtSpot (unicorn, analytics)
- Ultima Genomics (biotech)
- Cato Networks (security)
- 1Password (security)
- BetterUp (coaching platform)
- The Honest Company (consumer)
- Ramp (fintech, $300M ARR)
- ElevenLabs (voice AI, $300M+ ARR)
Team
Leadership Structure:
- 50+ investor partners including:
- Bejul Somaia (Partner, AI focus)
- Ravi Mhatre (Partner & Co-Founder)
- Alex Taussig (Partner, AI)
- Aaron Frank (Partner, Fintech)
- Barry Eggers (Co-Founder)
- Peter Nieh (Co-Founder)
- Nicole Quinn (Partner, AI)
- Naveed Matinfar (Partner, AI)
- Bucky Moore (Partner)
- David Gussarsky (Partner, Israel)
- Plus 50+ specialists, venture partners, and operating partners
Supporting Infrastructure:
- 19 venture partners bringing operational experience
- 32 specialists covering HR, legal, CFO, compliance, marketing, operations
- Deep executive talent network
- Capital markets expertise
- Global platform supporting founders
Geographic Focus
Lightspeed operates globally with offices in:
- US: Primary base with multiple offices
- Europe: Strong presence in major hubs
- Israel: Dedicated investment team
- India: Lightspeed India Partners (separate entity, coordinated)
- Southeast Asia: Growing presence
Philosophy: "The future is global and so are we."
Decision Process
Lightspeed operates through partnership model with:
- 50+ investor partners making collaborative decisions
- Depth-driven diligence combining complementary skill sets
- Diverse perspectives and domain expertise
- Conviction-based decision making
- Fast deployment capability
Founder Preferences
Lightspeed explicitly seeks:
- Bold builders with big ideas
- Category-defining founders committed to market leadership
- Execution excellence and operational rigor
- Diverse founding teams with complementary perspectives
- Mission-driven founders solving real problems
- Technical founders with deep domain expertise
Fund Structure
Lightspeed has raised multiple funds historically. Most recent:
- December 2025: Closed 9B+ in new funds
- December 2025: Closed 1.25B in single investor vehicles
- Total AUM: Multi-billion dollar platform
Sector Focus
Lightspeed invests across all sectors with particular strength in:
- AI/ML (pioneered early investing, 10+ years)
- Enterprise Software & Infrastructure
- Cybersecurity (Cyber60 annual report identifies 60 category leaders)
- Fintech & Payments
- Healthcare & Biotech
- Gaming
- Blockchain
- Consumer
Anti-Thesis
None explicitly stated. Fund positions itself as sector-agnostic, investing based on founder quality and market opportunity.
Competitive Position
Lightspeed advantages:
- 20+ year track record with 50+ portfolio exits
- Global platform with local expertise
- Deep partnership model vs. transactional investing
- First investor positioning
- Recent $9B+ fundraise demonstrating LP confidence
- Diverse team avoiding individual founder glorification