News

July 3, 2020

Lakestar partner steps down after decade at the VC firm

Manu Gupta is leaving prominent European VC firm, Lakestar.


Isabel Woodford

1 min read

Manu Gupta, a founding partner at Lakestar, is leaving the European venture firm after nearly a decade.

The serial investor told Sifted he has decided to step down later this summer and would begin a sabbatical until his non-compete clause is up.

Gupta helped set up early-stage venture firm Lakestar, which was founded in 2013 and has backed companies such as digital bank Revolut, delivery startup Glovo and travel company GetYourGuide.

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Lakestar has become one of the most influential players in the European venture capital scene, last year raising $735m for its two European investment funds.

This was one of the largest raises in European venture, which has seen a wave of fresh capital in recent years. That same year Atomico, the London-based tech investment firm, raised a $820m fund while Accel raised a $575m fund.

Lakestar has traditionally invested across early-stage companies in the fintech, proptech and travel tech space. Other notable investments include Omio, Harry's, SoFi, Opendoor and Oscar to name a few.

Gupta, who is on the board of more than a dozen companies such as Omio and Helpling, will leave behind seven other (all male) partners, including founder and chief executive Klaus Hommels, who was an early-stage investor in the likes of Facebook and Spotify.

Sources close to Lakestar say they are beginning discussions about a fresh hire to replace Gupta.

Recent new bets by Lakestar include Soulmachine, a New Zealand-based designer of artificial intelligence-based ‘avatars’ for interacting with computers, and Eigen Technologies, a London-based startup that uses natural language processing to help banks and other businesses analyse documents in bulk.