Peak XV ramps up dealmaking following Sequoia split

Peak XV Partners, the most influential venture firm in India and Southeast Asia, has signed more than 10 term sheets and witnessed three exits in the 10 weeks since it announced a split with Sequoia, according to minutes shared by an attendee to the closed-door gathering between the venture firm and its portfolio startup founders Friday.

The accelerated dealmaking comes at a time when a funding winter has killed the appetite of most investors in the region. One of the deals Peak XV has closed is a check of up to $50 million to Neo Group, an asset management and financial advisory firm, TechCrunch reported earlier this week.

U.S.-headquartered Sequoia announced in June that its China as well as India and Southeast Asia units were splitting to avoid potential conflicts. The India and Southeast Asia unit said at the time that it looked forward to putting the $2.5 billion of uninvested capital from the last year’s $2.85 billion raise to use.

While Sequoia has not unveiled any immediate plans to expand to India and the Southeast Asian region, Peak XV said earlier that it will expand to the U.S. It’s closing in on the first hire for its U.S. office, the company told founders Friday, according to the person in attendance. Overall, it has hired nine people since the split with Sequoia.

In the two-day gathering with about 250 entrepreneurs, Peak XV’s first since the split, the venture firm noted its plans to mobilize its founders and reassure them about the firm’s commitment to the region, according to the agenda of the gathering seen by TechCrunch.

The announcement in June took many investors by surprise, leaving them grappling with the challenge of explaining the shift to their own limited partners. Several founders were unsettled, too, uncertain about the potential changes ahead.

Peak XV is ensuring clarity for its founders. It maintains its optimism about the region and now feels greater freedom to adopt a more aggressive approach, said another person who’s attending the gathering. Peak XV’s portfolio startups have created over $30 billion in public market cap over the last three years, the firm said, according to the first attendee, who requested anonymity sharing nonpublic information.

But at the same time, Peak XV partner Shailendra Singh cautioned founders to keep a constant eye on how they allocate capital, “economic engine” and cash flows, according to one of the attendees.

Peak XV, whose majority of members are at the founders retreat in Bengaluru, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.