Global VC FinSight Ventures sharpens India strategy with $150–160 million plan, also eyes secondaries
The VC firm will split its focus evenly between fintech and commerce, and plans to deploy $150–160 million over the next two to three years.
US-based venture capital firm FinSight Ventures plans to step up its investment activity in India in 2026. It will not only back companies through primary rounds but also scout for secondary share purchases, an executive leading its India investments said.
The VC firm will focus on fintech and commerce, with a 50-50 split between the two sectors, and expects to deploy $150-160 million over the next two to three years, the executive said.
Pavel Gurianov, principal and head of India investments at FinSight Ventures, said the fund has already deployed about $50 million in India since entering the market in 2019, backing 16 companies. These include fintech firms Razorpay and Easy Home Finance, healthtech startup MediBuddy, and consumer internet companies such as CarDekho and Betterhalf, among others.
FinSight is investing from an evergreen pool of $650 million, Gurianov said, adding that the firm has also invested globally in companies including Bumble and Palantir.
FinSight is a limited partner in early-stage funds, including Speciale Invest and Sparrow Capital, Gurianov said.
Primary bets, secondary opportunities
“We have plans to invest large cheques in India of at least $30-40 million across at least 3-4 new companies, and at the same time we will also look at secondary opportunities in the country which have good exit timelines," he said.
Asked how FinSight evaluates secondary opportunities and whether it prefers discounted, distressed stakes or pre-initial public offering winners, Gurianov said the firm underwrites every deal with an exit in mind and remains conservative on the multiples it expects at the time of sale.
He added that the team does not assume that the public or private markets will cooperate, and builds buffers for macro volatility when it prices transactions.
The firm has walked away from deals when valuations did not work, and Gurianov said some of those companies later raised capital or moved toward listings at prices below the amount sellers were seeking earlier.
“As a result, FinSight is not in a rush to deploy capital each year and looks for deals where the price and exit path support returns over a multi-year holding period. The secondaries business is purely about exiting, not just simply about investing," he added.
Views on exits, public markets
On exits in the Indian market, Gurianov said India needs more patience than the US because companies here “grow with the market," which makes the journey to an IPO longer. He added that companies typically need to show “a few consecutive quarters" of a positive trajectory to build confidence among public market investors.
Gurianov said FinSight has long debated whether India’s public markets are expensive, but argued that valuations look different depending on the investor’s vantage point. He added that, for foreign investors, India stands out among the emerging markets because of the breadth of growth opportunities and the depth of public-market liquidity that can eventually support exits.
“We only decided to build presence in India because India has liquidity, which is not seen anywhere else," he said.
Despite inbound interest, Gurianov said FinSight is not looking to sell stakes right now, even as it receives requests for secondary liquidity in some late-stage as well as early-stage holdings.
“We’re doubling down on our portfolio," he said, arguing that even without “skyrocketing" growth, steady compounding with market expansion can still deliver a healthy internal rate of return (IRR), as long as its portfolio companies stay on track.
IRR is the annualized measure that captures how much money an investment makes and also how quickly it is returned, which is why VCs use it to compare deals with different exit timings.
Fund strategy
FinSight has no immediate plan to raise an India-only fund, Gurianov said, though he added that the decision could change over time. He argued that India already has strong local funds and ample capital, and said FinSight prefers to invest in business models it understands across multiple markets, rather than limiting itself to any one country.
At the same time, he said that the firm’s on-ground familiarity with India makes it more comfortable taking bigger bets here than in the other emerging markets. “You can think of a cheque size to be around 50-60% larger in India because we are confident in India, comfortable investing in India," he said.
India-based VC firms have continued to raise significant capital despite a slower deal environment. An Inc42 Datalabs report estimates that funds worth $9 billion were launched for Indian startups in 2025 (through September 28), including vehicles that are India-focused as well as those that invest in India alongside other geographies.
Some global venture firms active in India have also raised fresh capital. Accel closed $650 million for its eighth India fund in January 2025. Elevation Capital—an early backer of companies such as Paytm and Swiggy—launched a $400 million late-stage fund in August to support IPO-bound startups. Nexus Venture Partners, meanwhile, has closed its latest fund at $700 million to back startups in artifical intelligence, enterprise technology and consumer and fintech across India and the US.
A clutch of India-focused managers have also raised fresh capital over the past year, signalling steady LP appetite for local venture franchises. A91 Partners had recently raised $665 million for its third India fund, while Stellaris Venture Partners closed Fund III at $300 million in late 2024. More recently, Blume Ventures announced a first close of $175 million for Fund V, and said it is targeting $250–275 million by early 2026.
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