Peak XV Associatesa leading venture capital firm in India and Southeast Asia, has seen a fresh round of senior exits. These follow other leadership departures over the past year as it advances plans to deepen its focus on AI investments and expand its footprint in the US while retaining India as its biggest market.
The latest departures stem from an internal disagreement with senior partner Ashish Agrawal (pictured above, left) that led to a mutual decision to part ways, CEO Shailendra Singh told TechCrunch. He added that two other associates, Ishaan Mittal (pictured above, right) and Tejeshwi Sharma (pictured above, centre), chose to leave alongside him.
Singh said Peak XV did not want to go into the details of the dispute and was focused on moving forward. “Just because of privacy and, like, trying to be classy about it,” he said. Singh added that such exits were not unusual in large multi-stage ventures and that Peak XV wanted to move on quickly after many years of working together.
All board seats held by the departing partners will be transferred “indirectly,” Singh said, noting that the firm already had overlapping representation in several portfolio companies. He said Peak XV is not worried about continuity, noting that many general partners and operating partners are already involved in many of these boards.
The exits signal the exit of long-term investors from the company. Agrawal has been at Peak XV for more than 13 years, while Mittal has spent more than nine years at the company and Sharma more than seven years, according to their LinkedIn profiles.
Agrawal he wrote in a LinkedIn post that he had decided to “take the entrepreneurial plunge” and was working with Mittal and Sharma to start a new venture capital firm. He described the move as an opportunity to build a new institution with long-standing partners and thanked Peak XV’s leadership for what he called a “really wonderful partnership.”
During his tenure at Peak XV, Agrawal led investments in fintech, consumer and software, including Groww, one of the firm’s most significant IPO exits in 2025. He also backed several early and growth stage companies alongside Mittal and Sharma, contributing to Peak XV’s broader portfolio development in the past.
Agrawal, Mittal and Sharma did not respond to messages for comment.
Peak XV has also moved to strengthen its senior leadership from within. The firm on Tuesday promoted Abhishek Mohan to general partner, expanding its investment leadership bench, while Saipriya Sarangan was elevated to chief operating officer, taking over operations across the firm.
The leadership changes come amid a standout year for Peak XV portfolio exits. Five of her companies — Groww, Pine Labs, Meesho, Wakefitand Capillary Technologies — went public in November and December 2025, generating about ₹300 billion (about $3.33 billion) in unrealized market gains for the company, in addition to about ₹28 billion (about $310.61 million) in realized gains from share sales during IPOs.
Apart from the latest departures, the Peak XV has seen a wider upheaval in its senior ranks over the past 12 months. Last year, long-time investment leaders Harshjit Sethi and Shailesh Lakhani left the India team, while Abheek Anand and Pieter Kemps left the firm’s Southeast Asia operations. The company has also seen leadership changes in its marketing, policy and operations teams in recent months.
Singh dismissed the market view that many of the partners who drove Peak XV’s biggest outings were no longer with the company, calling the narrative “not statistically true.” He said many of the company’s most significant results had been driven by long-serving partners who remained at Peak XV, and argued that the company’s exit history was not down to any one person.
Peak XV currently has seven general partners, along with multiple partners and principals, according to Singh.
The VC firm, which spun off from Sequoia Capital in 2023 and currently manages more than $10 billion in 16 funds, has made about 80 AI-related investments, Singh said, underscoring its push to deepen its focus on AI funding. It is also preparing to open a US office within the next 90 days as it expands its global footprint, according to Singh, while continuing to see India as its biggest and most important market.
Singh said the firm believed AI would reshape venture investing more profoundly than previous technological changes, arguing that successful AI investing required investors with deep technical understanding rather than “general” experience. He added that Peak XV was looking to add more native AI talent, including researchers and engineers with backgrounds in machine learning and large-scale model development.
The firm has invested in more than 400 companies and its portfolio has seen over 35 initial public offerings and several mergers and acquisitions to date.
