By M. Sriram
MUMBAI (Reuters) – India’s biggest VC firm Peak XV Partners has organised a meeting of its more than 200 investee companies next month, an email shows, a closed-door event some founders see as part of an effort to assuage concerns after its split from Sequoia Capital.
Peak XV manages $9 billion in India and Southeast Asia and was created after Sequoia Capital in June said its India and China businesses would be run by separate entities.
In India, its high-profile investments include food delivery giant Zomato and Amazon rival Meesho.
The invite-only Peak XV “Founder Retreat” is planned for Aug. 18-19 in the tech hub of Bengaluru, dubbed the Silicon Valley of India and the base of many startups.
The invitation sent by email and seen by Reuters said it is Peak XV’s first such meet for founders in India, Bangladesh and the Middle East after Sequoia’s split, but gave no detail of the planned discussions.
The VC firm will address companies about Sequoia’s exit, two Indian companies’ founders briefed by Peak XV said.
Peak XV did not respond to a request for comment.
Four investee CEOs with Peak XV on their board told Reuters they were hoping to get answers about the VC firm’s plans as it goes solo, especially as it has faced corporate governance crises at some investee firms.
Peak XV and two other investors have been in the spotlight for suddenly resigning from the board of Indian ed-tech giant Byju’s, valued at $22 billion last year. Peak XV gave no reason for the resignation.
Last year, before the split, Sequoia Capital India faced a series of governance issues, prompting the firm to say it would impose stricter checks on the startups it funds.
Peak XV head Shailendra Singh told Reuters in June that the firm’s “biggest challenge” after the split is to explain changes to founders.
Publicly, Peak XV’s creation was cheered by many startup founders as an independent Indian investment firm.
(Reporting by M. Sriram; editing by Aditya Kalra and Jason Neely)
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