Interesting reads this week! #4

Peak XV Partners 2.0? Saudi’s Impact46 makes 10x return on Rasan

Mar 16, 2025

Peak XV Partners 2.0?

The former Sequoia Capital India has been through quite a lot in the last few years.

In the last 24 months it has: i) Split from Sequoia Capital US and China (Hongshan); ii) Suffered multiple scandals from its India/SEAsia portfolio including Byju’s, BharatPe, Trell, Zilingo, ONE Championship; iii) Cut its fees from 2.5 to 2%, slashed its carry from 30 to 20%, and downsized its fund by 16% to $2.85 billion; iv) Seen an exodus of high level execs including Shraeyansh Thakur (investor), Shailesh Lakhani (managing director), Abheek Anand (managing director), Anandamoy Roychowdhary (Surge partner), Piyush Gupta (managing director);

v) And now, making a pivot…to the US.

This is the second consecutive year that Peak XV has run this play – another indication that its US push is far from a passing trend.
Peak XV has also ramped up hiring in the US. Some of the senior executives from its US team include Chris Merritt, Jamie Bott, and Dini Mehta. In 2023, the firm was reportedly looking to set up an office in the US. (Source: TechinAsia)

It’s hard to imagine how a regional VC fund with little/no track record of investing in the US will compete with hungry Silicon Valley wolves (much less in a sector like AI), but I guess you have to take some bold bets when market dynamics change.

Peak XV is also leaning into its institutional strengths by developing a larger fund-of-funds strategy, where it can be an LP and do direct deals across stages and asset classes. Some of its “departing” investors are spinning off new fund vehicles.

Piyush Gupta has set up Kenro Capital, an India/Southeast Asia-focused secondaries fund; Anandamoy Roychowdhary is reportedly setting up a US fund. Sources have told me that Peak has offered to write small sub $5m cheques into other GPs as well.

At the same time Peak has nurtured ambitions to set up a “perpetual fund” bankrolled by its investment partners and extended team, mimicking Sequoia Capital’s evergreen fund — although the latter comprises publicly-traded stocks and other cash commitments.

Where will all of this take Peak XV Partners? It’s hard to say. For now they’ll need to deliver a kickass return on a never-before-seen $2.85 billion India and Southeast Asian fund…

Saudi’s Impact46 makes 10x return on Rasan 👀

KSA’s Impact46 seems to be on a roll…The Saudi VC has made yet another exit from its portfolio. This time it’s insurtech unicorn Rasan which conducted a Tadawul IPO earlier this week.

According to a press release, Impact46 made a 10x return across two of its funds — Venture Capital InsurTech Fund and Impact Growth Fund — on Rasan alone. The combined stake represented approximately SAR 918 million ($245 million) and is fully exited.

The Saudi VC has secured 5 exits so far, including food delivery firm Jahez (Tadawul IPO), BNPL player Tamara (exited in 2021 to a “global payments service provider”, presumably Checkout.com), and financial services marketplace Lendo.

Impact46 commenced operations in April 2019 with initial paid-up capital of SAR 5,000,000 ($1.3 million). It focuses on seed to Series A stages and has grown in size and scale. According to its website, it’s invested over SAR 650 million ($173 million) to date and manages over SAR 3.2 billion ($850 million).

Other known exits by MENA VCs: