It is easy to miss Liechtenstein on a world map. It is impossible to miss its money.

This is a country in Europe, smaller than parts of Bengaluru, ruled by a princely family that also owns LGT, a private-banking and asset-management group with roughly $480 billion under management. Some of that money travels. Over the past seven years, a meaningful portion has made its way into Indian startups through Lightrock, the family’s investment arm, including its recent ~Rs 440 crore Series E investment in EV firm Euler Motors alongside Hero Motocorp and Blume Ventures.

In March, it did something slightly unusual with it. Lightrock invested Rs 210 crore into Waycool, an agritech company weighed down by debt and far removed from its peak $700 million valuation. But this wasn’t a typical follow-on round.

The firm used the capital to pay off a portion of Waycool’s loans, effectively stepping in as a backstop lender in exchange for more equity in a company where it already owns roughly 30%.

“No VC ever issues a backstop for a loan,” said a venture fund partner. The Ken spoke to over a dozen former employees, portfolio founders, investors, and bankers to understand why Lightrock would go this far.

The move captures both the ambition and the predicament of Prince Maximilian von und zu Liechtenstein’s India strategy.

Since entering the country in 2019, Lightrock has deployed nearly $1 billion across around 40 growth-stage companies, including Porter, Shiprocket, Dehaat, Vivriti, and Ampin. Its approach has been to take 15–30% stakes and double down, often repeatedly, on portfolio companies in sectors that need patient capital, from agriculture to energy.

That, in itself, is not unusual. Growth-stage investors are expected to reserve capital for follow-ons and support their winners. Lightrock simply leaned harder into that model, allocating roughly 40% of its capital to existing bets, higher than the industry norm.

But venture capital ultimately runs on outcomes, not intent. And here, Lightrock—led in India until recently by Kartik Srivatsa and Vaidehi Ravindran— stands out for what it lacks: a breakout exit. While peers such as Temasek Holdings and Softbank have clocked large wins, Lightrock’s realised gains remain modest.

Its biggest exits so far—Aye Finance, Ummed Finance, and Porter—together total an estimated $150–200 million. In fact, of the roughly 40 companies Lightrock backed in India, at least 15% are already a shadow of themselves.

© The Ken