Together Fund Hires Former Google Executive Lakshmi Shankar as General Partner

Lakshmi Shankar to lead Together Fund’s San Francisco office, focusing on early-stage AI startups in India and the US

He has over twenty years of experience in the corporate technology and consumer internet industries.

The Tgether fund, which focuses on SaaS and AI startups, has Jhana, Togai, TuneAI, RevenueHero and WorkHack in its portfolio

Software-as-a-service (SaaS) and AI venture capital (VC) firm Together Fund has named former Google vice president of product strategy Lakshmi Shankar as its general partner, aiming to increase investment in AI startups.

Shankar will head the Together Fund’s San Francisco office and focus on investing in early-stage AI startups in India and the US, the VC firm said in a statement.

He brings with him over two decades of experience in enterprise technology and consumer internet, and at Google, he played a key role in the global growth of Google Search and the launch of Search Generative Experience (now AI Overview).

Shankar, who has a master’s degree in software engineering and business management, also worked at Twitter (now X) for six years in various roles.

Commenting on the appointment, Together Fund co-founder and Freshworks CEO Girish Mathrubootham said, “Lakshmi’s presence in San Francisco strengthens our mission to build a strong US-India bridge. His insights and connections in the Silicon Valley tech ecosystem will be invaluable as we support and scale startups in these key markets.”

Founded by Freshworks founder Mathrubootham, Founded by Eka Software founder Manav Garg, former Matrix Partners Shubham Gupta and former Accel executive Avinash Raghava, Together Fund calls itself a founder-first VC firm, focusing on early-stage startups in the SaaS and AI sectors.

Last year, Raghava left Together Fund to take up the position CEO at SaaS collective SaaSBOOMi.

In July last year, Together Fund announced first close $150 million second early-stage fund. The VC firm has startups in its portfolio such as Jhana, Togai, TuneAI, RevenueHero, WorkHack and others.

According to the report, Dunzo Co-Founder Mukund Jha in talks to raise INR 50-80 Cr ($6-10 million) from Together Fund for his new venture GenAI.

The development comes at a time when India, like other countries, is experiencing an AI boom following the emergence and success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Last month, Peak XV Partners Managing Director Rajan Anandan said that VC firm invests in 25 AI startups and is looking for more startups of this type in the country.

Similarly, other investors are also increasing their investments in the AI ​​space. Last week, Inc42 reported that startup GenAI Gnani.ai Raises INR 25 Cr (USD 3 Mn) from Info EdgeEarlier this week, IIFL Fintech acquired a 10% stake in GenAI startup Vitra.ai.

At the heart of the investment frenzy is the country’s growing GenAI market, which is expected to become over $17 billion in opportunities by 2030.