Kidwai will help the firm’s portfolio companies to navigate growth operations, strategy, regulatory landscapes and market expansion

With more than 40 years of experience in the financial sector, she retired as the group general manager and country head of India and chairperson of HSBC India in 2015

Kidwai has also served as the president of FICCI and has also been a board member with the Prime Minister’s Trade and Industry Council

Multi-stage venture capital firm Lightspeed has roped in veteran banker Naina Lal Kidwai as a venture advisor.

In her new role, Kidwai will help the firm’s portfolio companies to navigate growth operations, strategy, regulatory landscapes and market expansion.

With more than 40 years of experience in the financial sector, she retired as the group general manager and country head of India and chairperson of HSBC India in 2015. Kidwai was also a director on the HSBC Asia Pacific board and also held various leadership roles in companies such as PwC, ANZ Grindlays and Morgan Stanley.

“Kidwai’s unparalleled experience in banking and finance coupled with a visionary approach will be invaluable as we continue to back category-defining companies in India and beyond,” said Bejul Somaia, partner at Lightspeed.

Kidwai has also served as the president of FICCI and has also been a board member with the Prime Minister’s Trade and Industry Council. She is currently serving as the chairperson at Rothschild India and is also a senior advisor at Advent Private Equity and TPG Rise Climate.

Lightspeed India Partners counts Zepto, OYO, ACKO, Razorpay and Zetwork among its portfolio companies.

The development comes at a time when a host of VCs and private equity firms have seen a flurry of top level rejigs.

Four days back, PE firm Investcorp onboarded former Tech Mahindra executive Vivek Agarwal as senior operating partner to head its expansion into software services sectors.

A day later, partner and COO at Elevation Capital, Vivek Mathur stepped down from his role after a 14 year long stint. Also, Shailesh Lakhani and Abheek Anand, managing partners at Peak XV are set to leave the VC firm, marking its third major exit in the last one year.

As per Inc42’s analysis, last year the VC ecosystem witnessed 13 major top level exits and most of the outgoing investors had plans to float their own funds to make capital more accessible to Indian founders.