Peak XV sees another top-level exits as three managing directors quit
03 Feb 2026, 05:33 PMAshish Agrawal, Ishaan Mittal and Tejeshwi Sharma are leaving to start a new venture capital firm.
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Three managing directors at Peak XV Partners including Ashish Agrawal, who led its investment in stock broking startup Groww that had a spectacular listing last year, have quit, in another major management churn at the venture capital firm.
"We have mutually decided to part ways with Ashish Agrawal. After thoughtful consideration and discussions, it became clear that parting ways was in the best interests of our Limited Partners and the long-term interests of the firm," said Peak XV Partners, formerly Sequoia Capital India & Southeast Asia, in a statement.
Ishaan Mittal and Tejeshwi Sharma are also leaving, it added.
The announcement comes as Peak XV is close to raising its new fund, the first since its split from its parent firm Sequoia.
Peak XV's categorical mention of guarding LP interest in the statement indicates that the venture capital firm's new fund is almost closed or a done deal and these top-level exits has been timed ahead of the fund close announcement.
While Peak XV announced departures of its key individuals, it also announced promotions.
The statement said that it has promoted Abhishek Mohan to General Partner. Mohan led the venture capital firm's consumer tech investments since joining the firm in 2018, it noted. The statement also said that Saipriya Sarangan has been promoted to chief operating officer (COO).
Not only does the exits come ahead of the firm’s new fund close, but it also comes after a string of the successful recent liquidity events via initial public offerings(IPOs) of portfolio companies such as Groww, Pine Labs, Wakefit and Meesho.
What next for the exiting managing directors?
In a LinkedIn post, Agarwal said that he is leaving Peak XV after 13 years to start a new venture capital firm with Mittal and Sharma.
Peak XV is "stronger than ever" today, noted Agarwal, who also worked on Zomato investment and led deals in education financing startup Leap and healthcare startup Pristyn.
"The last few years have given me a ringside view of the best in entrepreneurship. Watching Groww, one of the first investments I led, become the second most valued new-age public company in India has been extraordinary to witness first hand," added Agrawal, who was consultant at McKinsey before joining Peak XV in 2013. He also had an entrepreneurial stint as co-founder at Yatayat, which he in in LinkedIn describes as an Uber for auto-rickshaws in Kanpur and Delhi.
Mittal, who joined Peak XV in 2011, became managing director at 2016. He is board member at fintech company Razorpay and consumer company Mamaearth, among others. Prior to joining the venture capital firm he was associate at BCG.
Sharma, who joined the venture capital firm in 2012, became managing director in 2018. He is currently on the board of Atlan, Chargebee and Flobiz, among others. Prior to joining Peak XV, Sharma worked at Bain & Co.
Churn at Peak XV
The venture capital firm is not new to top-level exits.
Just last year, Managing Director Harshjit Sethi resigned from his position. Just prior to Sethi, a series of exits of its managing directors, including Shailesh Lakhani, Abheek Anand, Piyush Gupta occurred.
In 2017-2018, senior executives at the then Sequoia Capital India, including VT Bharadwaj, Gautam Mago, and Abhay Pandey, also quit. The trio went on to form their own venture capital firm A91 Partners in 2018.
The venture capital industry in India as a whole has also seen senior level exits at firms such as Elevation Capital, Kalaari Capital, Lightbox as well as the unravelling at Helion Venture Partners.
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