<article>US-based early stage venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners is looking to raise $1 billion for a global vehicle, Lightspeed Global Opportunity Fund, DEALSTREETASIA has learnt.</article>

US-based early stage venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners is looking to raise $1 billion for a global vehicle, Lightspeed Global Opportunity Fund, DEALSTREETASIA has learnt.
According to a public disclosure, the Illnois Municipal Retirement Fund had recently approved a $100-million commitment to the vehicle, which is believed to have a global investment mandate.
Lightspeed Venture did not respond to a request for comment on the development.
The Silicon Valley-headquartered VC focuses on investments in the consumer and enterprise space. Since 2000, it has backed more than 350 companies, including Snap, GrubHub, Nutanix and GIPHY.
According to its website, Lightspeed Venture is currently investing out of its twelfth fund, which was closed at $750 million along with Lightspeed Venture Partners Select III at $1.05 billion last July. In total, it manages over $6 billion of committed capital across the US, Israel, India and China.
Lightspeed Venture&#8217;s China unit, Lightspeed China Partners (LCP), had <a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/lightspeed-venture-china-115967/">raised its fourth China fund at $560 million</a> &#8211; the biggest vehicle it has raised for Chinese investments. In China, some of its notable investments include InnoLight, Pinduoduo, Meituan Dianping &#8211; which have gone public in the last 18 months.
The VC firm is also active in India, where Lightspeed India Partners had <a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/lightspeed-india-second-fund-101469/">raised $175 million for its second fund </a>to invest in startups in consumer internet, software and other businesses.
It has holdings in some of the fastest-growing startups in India &#8211; a market that Lightspeed has been operating in for 12 years and counting, including education startup Byju&#8217;s, budget hotel startup Oyo, B2B marketplace Udaan and content platform ShareChat.
In Southeast Asia, Lightspeed Venture is said to be eyeing an expansion. It holds a stake in Singapore-headquartered ride-hailing unicorn Grab after backing a $1-billion round raised by the startup last August.
Other global VC firms including the likes of GGV Capital and Qiming Ventures are also expanding their investment scope to Southeast Asia. Both firms have over 20 unicorns under their belt.
Currently leading the way is US and China-based GGV Capital, which has <a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/ggv-office-singapore-128357/">officially opened an office in Singapore</a>, the fifth after Menlo Park, California, Shanghai and Beijing. The firm&#8217;s managing partner Jenny Lee told us that it is &#8220;serious about Southeast Asia&#8221; where the Singapore office will also act as a nearer gateway to India, a market that the VC firm is keeping an eye on.
On the other hand, China-based Qiming Venture Partners is still weighing its options to double down on startups in Southeast Asia. It is <a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/qiming-ventures-to-decide-in-a-year-if-southeast-asia-deserves-its-own-fund-111793/">giving itself a year</a> to decide whether to launch a dedicated fund for the region.
If all goes well, Qiming may raise up to $100 million for its Southeast Asia-focused vehicle. The VC firm is said to be <a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/chinas-qiming-venture-set-to-lead-budget-hotel-operator-reddoorzs-50m-series-b-125180/">leading the ongoing Series B round</a> of Singapore-based budget hotel operator RedDoorz, which could go up to $50 million.
SoftBank Ventures Asia, the early-stage investment vehicle of Japanese internet conglomerate SoftBank Group had also<a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/softbank-ventures-asia-115772/"> set up offices in Singapore and Shanghai</a> to boost its investments in Asia. Some of its notable investments include Indonesia e-commerce unicorn Tokopedia and augmented reality camera app SNOW China.
We reported that Masayoshi Son&#8217;s $100-billion SoftBank Vision Fund is <a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/softbank-vision-fund-130827/">in advanced talks to do the same by opening offices in China and expanding its team in Singapore</a>. The fund&#8217;s Asia director Anna Lo is expected to relocate from Silicon Valley to Singapore.

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Lightspeed Venture to raise $1b Global Opportunity Fund

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Lightspeed Venture to raise $1b Global Opportunity Fund

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