Bejul Somaia

Bejul Somaia is a Partner and senior leader at Lightspeed Venture Partners with more than 25 years of experience as both an operator and an early-stage investor. He earned a BSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and later an MBA from Harvard Business School. Before venture capital, he was a founder himself (reported to have co-founded the consumer internet company Openlist) and held operating roles, giving him a founder-centric investing philosophy.

Somaia joined Lightspeed in 2008, describing it as "a rare opportunity to help build the firm's practice in India from the ground up." He effectively established and led Lightspeed India, building what became one of the deepest venture teams and strongest franchises in the country. In 2020 he helped open the firm's Southeast Asia practice and subsequently supported the launch of Lightspeed's European practice, spearheading much of the firm's global expansion.

His early bets have returned over $1 billion to investors, and he led Lightspeed's early investments in market leaders including India Energy Exchange (NSE:IEX), OYO, Udaan and MagicPin. IEX in particular is frequently cited as a landmark ~35X outcome for the firm, with Lightspeed providing its first institutional capital before its NSE IPO. In recognition of this track record, he won the Midas Touch award for best venture capital investor in India in 2019. He has since transitioned into a more global partner role based in the US, focusing on consumer, enterprise and growth.

• Founder-first, earliest-stage conviction: He is "passionate about serving exceptional founders from their earliest stages," backing them before consensus forms and playing the long game.
• Long-horizon, high-conviction bets: Known for getting in early and holding through IPO (e.g., IEX), rather than chasing near-term momentum.
• Break-with-convention companies: His stated ethos — *"To realize your potential, you have to be willing to break with convention"* — points to backing founders pursuing non-obvious, contrarian markets.
• Sector breadth: Consumer internet, enterprise/SaaS, fintech, marketplaces, and infrastructure/energy across India, Southeast Asia, and increasingly global markets.
• Realism about the market: Publicly frames India as "not for the faint-hearted; tough, but worth it," signaling a preference for founders with resilience and staying power.