Amit Gupta, a managing director at Peak XV Partners, is exiting the firm to launch his own fund that will focus on secondary transactions, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Gupta, who has been based in Singapore, leads strategic development for Peak XV and is not involved in making investment decisions. He has been with the firm since 2017 and has played a key role in assisting Peak XV’s portfolio companies with fundraising, mergers and acquisitions, and initial public offerings.
This marks the first senior-level departure at Peak XV since it split from TPG in June 2023. Besides Gupta, the firm currently has 12 managing directors, including Shailendra Singh, Rajan Anandan, Mohit Bhatnagar, GV Ravishankar, and Shailesh Lakhani, who are all part of the investment team.
“He is set to depart at the end of this month…and has already been in discussions with several investors for his new fund. He is expected to also work closely with Peak XV Partners for potential secondary deals,” one of the sources said. “However, these are very early-stage discussions,” the person added.
Gupta’s decision to launch a fund focused on secondary transactions comes at a time when the larger venture investment ecosystem is witnessing an uptick in such deals, where investors trade stakes in companies without the money going into the company.
Peak XV declined to comment for this story.
Secondary stake transactions that have concluded or are in the works this year include private equity firm TPG’s purchase of a stake in logistics startup Shadowfax, Peak XV and Tiger Global’s potential acquisition of a stake in ecommerce firm Meesho, and Malabar Investments’ plan to pick shares in beauty retailer Sugar Cosmetics, as reported by ET.
Peak XV is also setting up a new vehicle backed by its internal pool of capital, which would allow the firm’s partners and senior leaders to take bets on a wider set of opportunities. The fund is being set up as a permanent capital vehicle which will allow the firm’s partners to expand and invest across different regions, strategies, and sectors. These investments could be in public market companies, venture funds in other regions, and specializations that do not compete with Peak XV’s current approach.
