Peak XV’s Piyush Gupta is leaving agency to start out personal secondary-focused VC fund

Piyush Gupta, one of many working leaders at Peak XV Companions, is leaving the agency on the finish of this month to start out his personal fund, 4 folks accustomed to the matter informed TechCrunch.

Gupta joined Peak XV (known as Sequoia India and SEA then) in 2017, main the influential enterprise agency’s strategic improvement staff. Earlier than becoming a member of Peak XV, he centered on related issues – mergers, acquisitions, and IPOs – at Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Financial institution for greater than a decade.

Although Gupta didn’t function an investing associate at Peak XV, he performed an necessary function at a few of its packages together with Pitstop, the place traders from throughout the globe liaison with Peak XV’s portfolio startups every year.

“For early-stage companies, we take a more programmatic approach, such as UpSurge, where we provide a platform for multiple companies to meet with multiple investors over a few days. At later stages, M&A can be a crucible moment in the journey to becoming a large, enduring company,” his bio on Peak XV reads. “Where our job gets incredibly interesting is when we help companies through the journey from pre to post IPO. Going public is an event and a milestone, but the work continues long after that and preparation is key.”

Information of Gupta’s departure was relayed by Peak XV Companions to its restricted companions at its annual gathering final month, one particular person accustomed to the matter stated, the place the fund additionally unveiled plans to launch a perpetual fund that shall be bankrolled by its funding companions and prolonged staff.

The 2 are parting methods on cordial phrases, two folks accustomed to the matter stated. Gupta plans to launch a secondary-focused fund and Peak XV intends to work intently with him to facilitate transactions at its portfolio companies.

Peak XV declined to remark and Gupta didn’t reply to a textual content.

Secondary transactions are on the rise in India. Peak XV itself has seen some exits — Pine Labs, K12 — by way of secondary transactions previously two years. The agency’s holding in Mamaearth, Zomato, K12 Techno Providers, Go Colours stood at a 10x-plus multiple as of final November, TechCrunch reported on the time.

SentinelOne acquired PingSafe, an early-stage startup in India, earlier this yr for greater than $100 million, TechCrunch reported earlier. PingSafe, which counted Peak XV’s Surge amongst its backers, had raised lower than $4 million earlier than the acquisition deal.