Peak XV Partners, one of the biggest venture capital firms in India and Southeast Asia, has seen another senior departure with Managing Director Harshjit Sethi stepping down after nearly a decade.
DealStreetAsia reported that Sethi is leaving to pursue new opportunities. His exit adds to a series of top-level changes.
In the past two years, managing directors Abheek Anand, Shailesh Lakhani and Piyush Gupta left the firm, along with long-serving professionals from marketing, HR and the Surge programme.
Investor Shraeyansh Thakur and Chief Product Officer Anuj Sahai also moved on recently.
Alongside these shifts, Peak XV has cut the size of its flagship India and Southeast Asia fund by 16 percent, trimmed management fees, and reduced carried interest to ease pressure on limited partners.
Shailendra Singh told DealStreetAsia earlier that such transitions are part of the natural cycle of an investment platform and reflect the firm’s entrepreneurial culture.
The leadership churn follows Sequoia Capital’s 2023 restructuring, which created Peak XV for India and Southeast Asia.
The firm continues to expand internationally, hiring senior talent in the US, including Jaime Bott, Chris Merritt, Dini Mehta and Arnav Sahu.
Peak XV is also sharpening its focus on artificial intelligence (AI), backing startups such as RapidCanvas, Enterpret, Abita Health, SixSense and Metaforms.
At the same time, parts of its portfolio have struggled, with governance and compliance issues surfacing at Indian firms like BYJU’s, BharatPe and GoMechanic, and the collapse of Zilingo in Southeast Asia.
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