Last week, Lightspeed Venture Partners announced that it had closed on $4.2 billion in new capital across three distinct funds — an $890 million early-stage venture fund, a $1.83 billion later-stage fund and a $1.5 billion “opportunity fund.”
With offices in the U.S., China, India, South East Asia, U.K. and Israel, the firm certainly has wide access to courting new deals in the midst of a crisis. The question is how easy it will be to source those deals.
Lightspeed partner Nicole Quinn joined the company in 2016 to help build out its consumer investment portfolio. Quinn’s investments include direct-to-consumer fashion company Rothy’s, celebrity shout-out platform Cameo, meditation app Calm and liquor company Haus.
I talked with Quinn last week about how her schedule is changing, who she’s talking to and where she is looking to invest next.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
TechCrunch: What’s your schedule looking like these days? How much have things changed?
Nicole Quinn: My schedule has certainly changed; I’m spending much more time with portfolio companies. It’s thinking through uncharted waters and we’re thinking through all of these aspects because we’re encouraging them to make sure that they are in the strongest position they can be in. After that is making sure they have two years of runway, because who knows how long this is going to last — it’s pretty hard to model out a global pandemic.
