Lightspeed Venture Partners

Multi-stage global VC with $35B AUM, first investor in Snap and backer of Anthropic/Stripe

ActiveConsumer & RetailEnterprise SoftwareHealthcare & Life SciencesSeedSeries ASeries BSeries CVenture Capital

Website LinkedIn X

Updated: Dec 5, 2025 ·

About

Multi-stage global VC with $35B AUM, first investor in Snap and backer of Anthropic/Stripe

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Investments Made

Date	Company	Round	Lead Investor(s)	Co-Investor(s)
Feb 12, 2026	Anthropic	$30.0B Series G	Coatue, D. E. Shaw & Co., Dragoneer Investment Group, Founders Fund, GIC, ICONIQ Capital, MGX	Accel, Addition, Alpha Wave Global, Altimeter Capital, AMP PBC, Appaloosa Management, Baillie Gifford, Bessemer Venture Partners, BlackRock, Blackstone Group, D1 Capital Partners, Fidelity, General Catalyst, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Greenoaks, Insight Partners, Jane Street Capital, JP Morgan Chase, Menlo Ventures, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, NVIDIA, NX1 Capital, Qatar Investment Authority, Sands Capital Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Temasek Holdings, TowerBrook Capital Partners, TPG, Whale Rock Capital Management, XN
Feb 9, 2026	Naboo	$70.0M Series B	Lightspeed Venture Partners	Isai, Notion Capital, Ternel
Feb 5, 2026	Goodfire	$150.0M Series B	B Capital	DFJ Growth, Eric Schmidt, Juniper Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, South Park Commons, Wing Venture Capital
Feb 4, 2026	Elevenlabs	$500.0M Series D	Sequoia Capital	AMP Coalition, Andreessen Horowitz, Bond, BroadLight Capital, Evantic Capital, ICONIQ Growth, NFDG Ventures, Smash Capital, Valor Equity Partners
Feb 2, 2026	Plug	$20.0M Series A	Lightspeed Venture Partners	Autotech Ventures, Galvanize, Leap Forward Ventures, Renn Global
Jan 29, 2026	Robco	$100.0M Series C	Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lingotto	EXOR N.V., Greenfield Partners, Kindred Capital, Leitmotif, Sequoia Capital, The Friedkin Group
Jan 28, 2026	gyde	$60.0M Seed	Lightspeed Venture Partners	Crystal Venture Partners, MVP Ventures, Optum Ventures, Virtue
Jan 26, 2026	Zocks	Series B	Lightspeed Venture Partners, QED Investors	Motive Ventures, 14Peaks Capital
Nov 1, 2025	CommerceClarity	$3.0M Seed	—	—
Nov 1, 2025	Code Metal	$37.0M Series A	—	Bain Capital Ventures, J2 Ventures, Pareto Holdings, Pillar VC
Oct 1, 2025	DualEntry	$90.0M Series A	—	Contrary Capital, Energy Impact Partners, Crystal Huang, GV, Khosla Ventures, RTP Global, Theory Forge Ventures, Jason Lemkin
Oct 1, 2025	Substrate	$100.0M Series A	—	Founders Fund, General Catalyst, Y Combinator, Immad Akhund, Will Gaybrick
Oct 1, 2025	The Mobile-First Company	$12.0M First Company - Seed	—	Base10 Partners, Kima Ventures, Rodolphe Ardant, Thibaud Elziere
Oct 1, 2025	Katana	$16.0M Series B	—	3VC, Atomico, Basis Set Ventures, Hoxton Ventures, Insight Partners, Brooke Seawell, Northzone, Project A Ventures, Arash Ferdowsi, Jaan Tallinn, Mandeep Singh, Ott Kaukver, Sergei Anikin
Oct 1, 2025	AlgoX2	$4.0M Seed	—	Altimeter Capital, Battery Ventures, Benchmark, Bessemer Venture Partners, Bond, Citi Ventures, Coatue, FirstMark Capital, Hanabi Capital, IVP, Khosla Ventures
Oct 1, 2025	Notch	$8.0M Seed	—	Boost VC, Goat Capital, Patron, Resonado, SOSV, Tribe Capital, Balaji Srinivasan, Casey Neistat, Immad Akhund, Shariq Rizvi, Siqi Chen
Oct 1, 2025	HiOctave	$15.0M Seed	—	Contrary Capital, General Catalyst, Crystal Huang, Khosla Ventures, RTP Global
Oct 1, 2025	EvenUp	$150.0M Series E	—	645 Ventures, Gautam Gupta, Kevin Hartz, Accel, Alt Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Bain Capital Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Bond, DCM, DTCP, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Forerunner Ventures, Foundry Group, Greylock, High Alpha, Insight Partners, Maverick Capital, NFX, Ribbit Capital, SignalFire, Thrive Capital, Tribe Capital, Underscore VC, Y Combinator, Aaron Levie, Allison Pickens (Allison Pickens Ventures), Frederic Kerrest, Gokul Rajaram, Howie Liu, Marc Benioff, Matt Macinnis, Mike Liu, Mike Vernal, Scott Belsky
Oct 1, 2025	AnyTeam	$10.0M Seed	—	Bain Capital Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Crosslink Capital, DCM, NFX, SignalFire, Tribe Capital, Allison Pickens (Allison Pickens Ventures), Gokul Rajaram, Scott Belsky
Oct 1, 2025	Epiminds	$7.0M Seed	—	Visionaries Club, Pieterjan Bouten, Wim Derkinderen
Oct 1, 2025	Dialogue AI	$6.0M Seed	—	Andreessen Horowitz, SV Angel
Oct 1, 2025	ClaimSorted	$13.0M Seed	—	Atomico, Balderton Capital, CRV, Eclipse Ventures, Firstminute Capital, SOSV, SQN Venture Partners, Biz Stone, George Godula, Immad Akhund, Kulveer Taggar, Mario Götze, Scott Belsky, Tim Kendall, Tom Blomfield
Sep 1, 2025	proteanTecs	$51.0M Series D	—	Addition, Greylock, Dave Munichiello, In-Q-Tel, QBE Ventures
Sep 1, 2025	Waldo	$10.0M Series A	—	50 Partners, AI4ALL, Allison Pickens Ventures, formerly The New Normal Fund, Alt Capital, Boldstart Ventures, Footwork, Hidden Capital, Index Ventures, Insight Partners, Pioneer Fund, Tectonic Capital, Ten Eleven Ventures, Y Combinator, Allison Pickens (Allison Pickens Ventures), Ben Porterfield, Christian Reber, Justin Mateen, Liu Jiang, Nigel Wray, Scott Belsky, Sean Rad
Sep 1, 2025	Tabs	$55.0M Series B	—	Alumni Ventures, General Catalyst, One Way Ventures, Gokul Rajaram

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Leadership Team

Key people at Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Sebastian Duesterhoeft

Leadership Team

Key people at Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Sebastian Duesterhoeft

Deep Dive

High-Level Overview

Lightspeed Venture Partners is a multi-stage global venture capital firm managing approximately $35 billion in assets under management (AUM). Its mission centers on serving bold founders who are building the future, investing from Seed to Series F stages across sectors such as enterprise software, infrastructure, fintech, cybersecurity, and AI. The firm is known for backing transformative companies early, including Snap Inc. (Snapchat), Anthropic (AI), and Stripe (payments). Lightspeed’s investment philosophy emphasizes high-conviction partnerships with visionary founders, providing not only capital but deep operational support and access to a powerful network to accelerate growth. This approach has significantly impacted the startup ecosystem by enabling companies to scale rapidly and achieve market leadership.

Origin Story

Founded in 2000 by Barry Eggers, Christopher Schaepe, Ravi Mhatre, and Peter Nieh—four enterprise founders and Stanford alumni—Lightspeed began with a focus on enterprise software and infrastructure. The firm expanded internationally with offices in Tel Aviv (2006), India (2008), and Singapore (2022), reflecting its global investment scope. Early successes include leading Series A rounds for AppDynamics (acquired by Cisco for $3.7B), Nutanix (public debut in 2017), and Nest (acquired by Google for $3.2B). A pivotal moment was becoming the first venture investor in Snap Inc. in 2012, which went public in 2017 with Lightspeed as a major shareholder. Over time, Lightspeed broadened its focus to include frontier technologies like AI, exemplified by its early and continued backing of Anthropic.

Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: High-conviction, founder-focused partnerships from early to late stages, investing globally across sectors.
Network Strength: Access to a curated network of 2,500+ enterprise IT and innovation leaders, strategic partnerships with major cloud providers, and a Design Partner Program that connects startups with early adopters for product feedback.
Track Record: Early investor in iconic companies such as Snap, Affirm, Nest, Nutanix, and Anthropic, with multiple successful exits and IPOs.
Operating Support: The Lighthouse platform delivers senior operators and industry experts who actively engage with portfolio companies to accelerate growth and go-to-market strategies.

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Lightspeed rides the wave of digital transformation, cloud adoption, AI innovation, and fintech disruption. Its timing aligns with the rapid maturation of foundational technologies like AI models and cloud infrastructure, enabling it to back companies that define new market categories. Market forces such as increasing enterprise IT modernization, demand for cybersecurity, and AI-driven automation favor Lightspeed’s portfolio focus. The firm influences the broader ecosystem by shaping technology trends through capital, expertise, and strategic connections, helping startups scale and innovate at critical inflection points.

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Looking ahead, Lightspeed is poised to deepen its commitment to frontier technologies, especially AI and enterprise innovation, as evidenced by its leading role in Anthropic’s $3.5 billion Series E round. Trends such as AI foundation models, cloud-native architectures, and fintech evolution will shape its investment journey. The firm’s influence is likely to grow as it continues to back bold founders and leverages its global network and operational support to create iconic companies. Lightspeed’s enduring focus on founder partnership and ecosystem building positions it well to remain a key player in venture capital’s evolving landscape.

Sources

Frequently Asked Questions

Who founded Lightspeed Venture Partners?

Lightspeed Venture Partners was founded in 2000 by Chris Schaepe (Co-Founder).

Frequently Asked Questions

Who founded Lightspeed Venture Partners?

Lightspeed Venture Partners was founded in 2000 by Chris Schaepe (Co-Founder).

High-Level Overview

Origin Story

Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: High-conviction, founder-focused partnerships from early to late stages, investing globally across sectors.
Network Strength: Access to a curated network of 2,500+ enterprise IT and innovation leaders, strategic partnerships with major cloud providers, and a Design Partner Program that connects startups with early adopters for product feedback.
Track Record: Early investor in iconic companies such as Snap, Affirm, Nest, Nutanix, and Anthropic, with multiple successful exits and IPOs.
Operating Support: The Lighthouse platform delivers senior operators and industry experts who actively engage with portfolio companies to accelerate growth and go-to-market strategies.