Lightspeed invested $22.5 million in Mercantila, an online retail venture, and $7 million in TutorVista, an online tutoring and test preparation company.
"We are further scouting for Indian entrepreneurial ventures which could be candidates for early and growth stage equity investments," Ravi Mhatre, general partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners, said.
India would be at the forefront of "venture capital financing wave", with projects managing to attract multi-million dollar investments in near future, he said. Internet companies
across a spectrum of sectors, including retail and education were in the key focus set of global funds, he said.
Lighstspeed manages $1.3 billion and its partners have invested in more than 100 technology companies over the past two decades, the company said. Mercantila managing director R Balakrishnan said the funding would help the company expand operations to support the growing demand in the industry.
Mercantila plans to add several additional stores and over 100 additional Bangalore-based employees in 2007 to the existing 100, the firm said.
TutorVista founder and chairman Krishnan Ganesh said the funding would help his firm to continue its rapid growth in the US and UK markets.
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