Peak XV’s Piyush Gupta is leaving firm to start own secondary-focused VC fund | TechCrunch

Piyush Gupta, one of the operating leaders at Peak XV Partners, is leaving the firm at the end of this month to start his own fund, four people familiar with the matter told TechCrunch.

Gupta joined Peak XV (called Sequoia India and SEA then) in 2017, leading the influential venture firm’s strategic development team. Before joining Peak XV, he focused on similar things – mergers, acquisitions, and IPOs – at Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank for more than a decade.

Though Gupta didn’t serve as an investing partner at Peak XV, he played an important role at some of its programs including Pitstop, where investors from across the globe liaison with Peak XV’s portfolio startups each 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.”

News of Gupta’s departure was relayed by Peak XV Partners to its limited partners at its annual gathering last month, one person familiar with the matter said, where the fund also unveiled plans to launch a perpetual fund that will be bankrolled by its investment partners and extended team.

The two are parting ways on cordial terms, two people familiar with the matter said. Gupta plans to launch a secondary-focused fund and Peak XV intends to work closely with him to facilitate transactions at its portfolio firms.

Peak XV declined to comment and Gupta didn’t respond to a text.

Secondary transactions are on the rise in India. Peak XV itself has seen some exits — Pine Labs, K12 — through secondary transactions in the past two years. The firm’s holding in Mamaearth, Zomato, K12 Techno Services, Go Colors stood at a 10x-plus multiple as of last November, TechCrunch reported at the time.

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