Investor Shraeyansh Thakur leaves Peak XV Partners, joins growing list of departures

Shraeyansh Thakur, a Peak XV Partners investor, has exited the venture firm after nine years to pursue entrepreneurship, marking the latest in a string of high-profile departures at one of India’s largest VC.

Thakur, who joined Sequoia Capital India (now Peak XV) in 2015, announced his departure in a LinkedIn post, citing his “long dream” to build a company.

Thakur, who lead investments in firms like Unacademy and Atlys, will remain with the VC for several months to assist portfolio companies.

Also Read

Shailesh Lakhani and Abheek Anand quit Peak XV amid investment strategy shift

His exit follows a series of high-profile departures at the firm, which has struggled to retain senior leadership since splitting from Silicon Valley’s Sequoia Capital in June 2023.

Peak XV Partners, India’s largest venture capital investor, has seen its reputation challenged by governance crises at marquee portfolio companies like BYJU’S and Zilingo, alongside a broader market slowdown, The Captable had reported.

Thakur’s exit underscores a talent drain at Peak XV. Managing Directors Shailesh Lakhani and Abheek Anand, who oversaw key deals such as Zetwerk and Blinkit, exited earlier this month after 17 and 12 years, respectively.

Thakur’s departure also adds to concerns about succession planning at the firm, which downsized its $2.85 billion fund by 16% in 2024 and cut management fees.

While Peak XV has publicly denied rumors of additional partner-level departures, The Captable had reported that senior attrition has rippled beyond the investment team to critical verticals, including Surge (its flagship seed-stage program), marketing, policy, HR, and IT operations.

The exits, which began shortly after its split from Sequoia Capital in 2023, include high-profile names such as Piyush Gupta, Peak XV’s Singapore-based managing director, who left in March 2024 to launch secondary-focused Kenro Capital.