Former Peak XV Partners MDs — Ashish Agrawal, Ishaan Mittal, and Tejeshwi Sharma — have launched Mettle Capital, a new India-focused VC firm, and are aiming to raise $350 Mn to $400 Mn for its maiden fund. This comes a few months after the trio quit Peak XV and said they would launch a new VC firm.
The fund will target Series A and B funding rounds, alongside selective seed investments, in startups across enterprise AI, deeptech, and consumer internet sector, ET reported, citing sources.
Mettle Capital has already initiated discussions with limited partners in the US, Europe, and Asia, and will also look to raise domestic capital. The fund aims to reach closure within the next quarter, with initial capital deployment expected by September-October 2026, the report added.
Mettle plans to make 5-6 high-conviction investments annually, reflecting the industry move towards concentrated, sector-focused bets, it said.
All three ex-MDs had been a part of Peak XV since before its spin off from Sequoia Capital. While Agrawal was associated with the firm since 2013, Mittal and Sharma were with it since 2016 and 2018, respectively.
Agrawal led the fund’s investment in online brokerage Groww in 2019, delivering 94X return and helping shepherd its journey to an IPO in November 2025. Mittal backed fintech leader Razorpay, now preparing for public listing, and D2C brand Mamaearth. Sharma led investments in enterprise software and SaaS ventures such as Atlan, Scapia, CRED, and Whatfix. Collectively, their previous investments covered major IPOs and multi-bagger growth stories, which is expected to attract significant LP interest in Mettle Capital.
Peak XV, among top VC firms in the country, has experienced notable leadership churn, with over eight partners and multiple associates departing over 18 months. Earlier, former MDs Shailesh Lakhani and Harshjit Sethi joined hands with former Sequoia VP Mayank Porwal to launch Ambition Capital, an early stage fund with a target corpus of $250 Mn.
In late-2024, former Peak XV MD Piyush Gupta launched a secondaries-focused VC firm Kenro Capital, which has invested in startups like K-12 Techno, Pine Labs, and Giva. Partners like Pieter Kemps, Lakhani, Abheek Anand, Shraeyansh Thakur, and Anandamoy Roychowdhury also parted ways with the VC firm in recent years.
This trend is driven by limited partners’ increasing willingness to back first-time managers with distinct sector focus and established performance.
The churn also came amid Peak XV’s attempts at establishing a stronger India-only presence after its separation from Sequoia Capital in 2023. In February, it announced three maiden funds — India Seed, India Venture and APAC Funds — following the separation, with commitments of $1.3 Bn..
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