VC firm has eye on India, China, Israel

U.S.-based venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners has said it has closed Lightspeed Venture Partners VIII LP capitalized with $800 million of limited partner commitments, above the firm's target of $675 million.

The closing brings Lightspeed's base of committed capital to over $2 billion.

"While we expect the majority of Lightspeed VIII portfolio companies to be headquartered in the U.S., Lightspeed investment professionals have been investing internationally for over 10 years, and we expect to deploy substantial capital in China, India and Israel," said Peter Nieh, managing director.

In the United States and Israel, Lightspeed said it would continue to focus on seed and early-stage companies primarily in information technology and cleantech markets. Information technology areas of interest include Internet, software, enterprise infrastructure, communications, mobile technologies and semiconductors. Cleantech areas of focus include energy generation, efficiency and storage.

In China and India, Lightspeed said it is pursuing a balanced investment program encompassing early-stage technology companies as well as growth-stage companies in a range of product and service businesses.

- Peter Clarke
EE Times Europe