Peak XV says it follows meritocratic compensation framework as more partners exit

Recently, three Peak XV partners—Ashish Agrawal, Ishaan Mittal, and Tejeshwi Sharma—have exited the VC firm after spending over a decade with the organisation, marking the second wave of high-profile departures in the past 12 months. In the second half of 2025, the firm saw Harshjit Sethi and Shailesh Lakhani exit to launch their own fund, which had been in the works while other senior departures included partners Abheek Anand and Anandamoy Roychowdhary, along with Surge partner Pieter Kemps.

After the firm’s split in 2023, when Sequoia India & Southeast Asia was rebranded as Peak XV, Piyush Gupta—who was then heading strategic development—exited in 2024 to launch Kenro Capital later that year.

The departing partners

Even as the departing partners took to social media to announce their decision, Ishaan Mittal in a post on X wrote, “We have the youngest, most ambitious population of any large country. And, technology is reaching every corner of India faster than anyone could have imagined, even a few years ago. The next 20 years in India will produce world-class companies across every sector--AI, consumer, fintech, healthcare, manufacturing, climate, and categories we haven’t even named yet. The founders building these companies will be world-class, and we want to be in the trenches with them from day one. TJ, Ashish, and I are thrilled about the opportunity to build an investment firm that is entrepreneurial, ambitious, and maniacally focused on backing the founders who will define the next phase of innovation in India. We will do it with patience, partnership, and a long-term commitment to company building,” teasing their new firm's goals. 

The exit saga

Following these exits, a Peak XV spokesperson told Fortune India that the firm has promoted Abhishek Mohan to General Partner, where he will continue to lead the consumer tech investment team, and Saipriya Sarangan to Chief Operating Officer to oversee firm-wide operations. In addition, GV Ravishankar, the firm’s veteran managing partner, will be moving back to Bengaluru. Along with Sakshi Chopra, who has been with the firm for over 15 years, Rohit Agarwal in Singapore, Rajan Anandan, and  Shailendra Singh, the firm will have seven general partners. 

“Building deep bench strength has always been core to Peak XV, and this team reflects long-standing focus on building leadership depth and strengthening the firm for the long term,” the spokesperson said.  

While the VC firm said in its release that Ashish Agrawal’s exit was a mutually agreed decision, his departure has also prompted Ishaan Mittal and Tejeshwi Sharma to step away from the firm. “After thoughtful consideration and discussions, it became clear that parting ways was in the best interests of our Limited Partners and the long-term interests of the firm,” the release read.  

The exits come at a time when the firm is preparing to close its first fund since the separation, with the fund size expected to exceed $1 billion. For Peak XV, the recent IPO run has of its portfolio firms such as Groww, Meesho, Wakefit, Pine Labs, among others have given them returns on the investment.  

For instance, Peak XV partially divested nearly 15.82-crore shares as part of the Offer for Sale (OFS) during Groww’s IPO, realising over ₹1,500 crores and over 52X return on the original investment.

Currently, the firm holds 17.16%, roughly worth over ₹17,800 crore at the current market price. In Meesho, it continues to hold around 11.60% valued at over ₹7,800 crore, even as it raked in ₹190+ crore in OFS sale. Peak XV's first investment in Meesho was $7.15 million for 18.4% stake.  

In an earlier conversation with Fortune India a few months ago, the firm’s Managing Director Shailendra Singh said, “We really worked for the last six, seven years trying to get companies ready, and that’s why we were able to have many IPOs. And in most years, we have been net cash,” alluding to the returns made by the firm.

Bone of contention

According to reports, the commercial terms of the firm with its partners was a bone of contention that led to the exits. Just to give a sense of how partners at VC firms make their money, one is through management fees, spread over the fund cycle, and the second through- ‘Carry’- where a percentage of the  profits generated by the venture capital fund's after returning to their investors is shared by the  General Partners.  

While not stating specifically if there would be any changes in its compensation terms to its partners in the new fund, “Peak XV has a meritocratic compensation framework. This principle ensures that consistent high-performance leads to the highest economics, irrespective of tenure,” the spokesperson said.   

Around 90% of Peak XV’s investment focus remains concentrated in three key sectors—AI, software and cloud, fintech, and consumer—across both India and the broader APAC region. “As an independent firm, we now have significantly more capability than we have had before,” Singh said.  

Specifically for India, the firm said its long-term strategy is centred on backing home-grown companies focused on the domestic market—particularly in consumer, fintech, silicon, and semiconductors, as well as defence and space technology. At the same time, it will continue to focus on Indian startups aiming to build global category-leading businesses from India.