Lightspeed Venture Partners, a US-based venture capital firm, has raised $1.8 billion to invest in startups operating in a variety of industries, from cryptocurrencies to biotechnology, TV streaming services, and beauty products. On Monday, the company’s partners told Reuters that about $1.05 billion of the new funding would be allocated to a new fund that will be focused on investments in more mature companies, even though the VC firm has been known for betting on early-stage investments.
Lightspeed, which is the first investor in the messaging application Snapchat, aims to expand its business in Southeast Asia and start investing including in cryptocurrencies.
Jeremy Liew, a Lightspeed partner, said that later-stage companies are more consolidated in their industries than young startups, but the former ones are less likely to generate astronomical returns, something which certain startups could achieve.
As part of its business growth, the VC firm hired Brad Twohig – a former investor with Insight Venture Partners – as a new partner to help it manage the future investments.
Lightspeed’s $1 billion fund for growth-stage investments is part of a broader trend in the VC industry in which institutional investors are switching from startup investing or going for a combination of early-stage and growth-stage companies.
During the last five years, the startups backed by Lightspeed have carried out 17 IPOs, half of which have been held since January 2017. The VC firm invested in companies like Snap, personal stylist provider Sitch Fix, data storage service Nutanix, AppDynamics (bought by Cisco), MuleSoft (acquired by Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM)), and Informatica. Since its launch in 2000, the VC firm can boast with 24 early stage company investments that have gone through IPOs, the most of any fund out there.
Liew, who managed Lightspeed’s investment in Snap, admitted that the messaging app was the Jackpot:
“If you point to one moment in time for the firm it was probably the Snap IPO. But really, it’s a decade of hard work, and it all came to fruition at the same time.”
Lightspeed has already invested in several blockchain-oriented projects, such as Ripple Labs, BTC China, Blockchain.info, and startup incubator Boost.
Last month, Andreessen Horowitz, another reputable VC firm based in the US, announced that it would launch a $300 million fund focused on cryptocurrency-oriented companies.
This article appeared first on Cryptovest
