Three managing directors from Peak XV Partners have left the firm to start a new venture capital outfit, marking the latest round of leadership departures at one of the most prominent startup investors in India.
Ashish Agrawal, Ishaan Mittal and Tejeshwi Sharma announced their exits, along with their plan to build a new investment firm with a focus on backing the next generation of founders.
Agrawal, who spent 13 years at Peak XV and its predecessor Sequoia Capital India, led early bets that include the listed fintech platform Groww. His tenure covered investments in fintech, SaaS and consumer tech companies.
Mittal, who was also a part of the firm’s growth investing team, has a track record that includes backing brands such as the listed beauty and personal care brand Mamaearth’s parent firm, Honasa Consumer Ltd, and fintech app Razorpay.
Sharma has been associated with portfolio companies such as Kunal Shah-led fintech firm CRED and SaaS firm Chargebee.
Agrawal posted on his social-media account that he and his partners “look forward to building a venture capital firm that supports the ambitions of the next generation of founders.”
The recent departure comes amid broader churn within Peak XV’s leadership ranks. The firm has seen a number of senior exits over the past year, including other managing directors and investment executives.
Managing director Harshjit Sethi had stepped down earlier, followed by chief product officer Anuj Sahai, managing partners Shailesh Lakhani and Abheek Anand, investor Shraeyansh Thakur, human capital director Anirudh Bose Mullick, and other senior executives, including Piyush Gupta, Gayatri Vasudeva Yadav and Shweta Rajpal Kohli.
Separately, Peak XV said in a statement the firm “mutually decided” to part ways with Agrawal.
“After thoughtful consideration and discussions, it became clear that parting ways was in the best interests of our Limited Partners and the long-term interests of the firm. Following Ashish’s departure, Ishaan Mittal and Tejeshwi Sharma have decided to join him,” it said.
The VC firm also said it has promoted Abhishek Mohan to general partner and Saipriya Sarangan to Chief Operating Officer (COO) overseeing firm-wide operations. Mohan joined the firm in 2018 and has led the firm's consumer-tech investments.
“These changes will enable the firm to strengthen its capabilities in an era of unprecedented change driven by artificial intelligence,” Peak XV said, adding that it recently closed its 80th AI investment and that it will add to its bench of AI-native investors and go-to-market capabilities.