Peak XV Partners’ Anandamoy Roychowdhary Quits

In the second major departure at Peak XV Partners in less than a year, Anandamoy Roychowdhary has left the VC firm. 

Roychowdhary’s LinkedIn profile shows that he left the company at the end of November and is now “unemployed”. In a post on X on Friday (November 29), he said, “Petal wafts from the rose, drawn by dreams of mastery. cedes post Nov 30th”. peakxv 2013-24”.

Roychowdhary, who was a partner at the VC firm, left the investment firm after more than an 11-year stint. There is no clarity on his next move. 

As per reports, Roychowdhary’s departure was in the works at least since May this year. 

An alumnus of Pune Institute of Computer Technology, Roychowdhary joined the then Sequoia India as the director of technology in 2013 and was also a technology advisor to the VC major’s portfolio companies, including BYJU’S. 

Rising through the ranks, Roychowdhary was appointed as a principal in 2020. When Peak XV was hived off as a separate entity last year, he joined the VC firm as a partner. Prior to joining Sequoia Capital, he worked at companies like Zynga, NextLabs, Symantec, among others.

This is the second major exit at Peak XV Partners in the past seven months. In April, the investment major’s managing director Piyush Gupta left the company after a seven-year tenure. Earlier this week, Gupta floated his new secondaries-focussed fund, Kenro Capital, to cash in on the surge in secondary transactions. 

The development also comes at a time when Peak XV has been in the middle of an upheaval. In October, the investment major trimmed the size of its $2.85 Bn fund by 16%, or $465 Mn, with a likely focus on deploying dry powder more judiciously. It returned uninvested capital to its limited partners (LPs).

Additionally, it also tweaked its payout for its fund managers or general partners and opted for a 2/20 compensation structure in line with industry standards. 

The VC giant appears to have taken a major hit on its investments in BYJU’S, which is undergoing insolvency proceedings, while another one of its portfolio companies, SaaS startup Toplyne shut operations earlier this year. 

Peak XV’s US-based parent Sequoia Capital entered India in 2006 through the acquisition of WestBridge Capital’s team. Subsequently, the VC major scaled up its investments in the country and backed unicorns such as CRED, Meesho, Groww, Mamaearth, and Unacademy. 

In 2023, Sequoia Capital underwent a split and divided its operations into three independent entities. The India and South Asia operations were rebranded as Peak XV Partners. 

Despite the split, US-based Sequoia Capital is also looking to make a comeback to India and is said to be in advanced talks to invest in Bengaluru-based fintech startup Vance.