Accel raises $650 million fund for India, fuels the next generation startups

KOCHI: Accel, a leading global venture capital firm, today announced that it has raised
a $650 million early-stage fund dedicated to supporting bold founders in India and Southeast Asia.
Accel’s latest fund, its eighth in India and SEA, will build on its commitment to partnering with early-
stage founders to build disruptive, category-defining businesses that create meaningful impact. Accel
leverages its over 40 years of experience and a global platform to provide the mentorship, networks,
and support that founders need to lead in their domains.

With this fund, Accel will continue to partner with founders in AI, consumer brands, fintech, and
manufacturing.

Most median economic projections expect India to be a secular long-term growth story. As the fastest
growing major economy globally, India’s GDP per capita is projected to rise by 60% from $2,700 in 2024
to $4,300 by 2029. India’s consumption story is expected to remain robust, and investments in public
and digital infrastructure are expected to deliver sustained long-term economic growth.
While India’s public markets have grown 3x over the last 10 years, VC-backed companies represent less
than 5 percent of the market capitalization. Public markets have started to embrace technology-led
businesses, as demonstrated by two of its most recent listings, BlackBuck and Swiggy. Accel was the
seed investor in both these companies.

“India is at an inflection point. Over the next decade, we are poised to add more to our GDP than we
have in our economic history. The surface area of the opportunity for Indian founders to build and scale
businesses that deliver large-scale impact is huge,” said Prayank Swaroop, Partner at Accel. “With this
latest fund, we are focused on AI, consumer, fintech, and manufacturing —areas that are reshaping
industries and addressing the needs of a rapidly evolving market. Digital adoption is accelerating across
urban and rural India, and founders are poised to solve real-world challenges and create solutions of
global relevance. We believe the next wave of category-creating companies will come from those who
can combine innovation with a deep understanding of customer needs.”

With over 16 years of operating in India and Southeast Asia, Accel has partnered with companies that
have reimagined industries from e-commerce and SaaS to manufacturing. Accel has made substantial
investments in companies across sectors such as Amagi, Acko, BlackBuck, BlueStone, BrowserStack,
Cult.fit, Flipkart, Freshworks, Swiggy, Urban Company, and Zetwerk. Accel is the first institutional
investor in 80% of its portfolio companies.

According to Shekhar Kirani, Partner at Accel, “India’s startup ecosystem is increasingly becoming the
driving force behind the nation’s economic progress, with VC-backed companies surpassing $50 billion in
public market capitalization. Indian founders have built resilient and enduring businesses which have
been embraced by the public markets. As India’s GDP and public market cap grow, we expect large
outcomes from disruptive businesses led by bold and visionary founders. As always, Accel strives to be
the first partner to these exceptional entrepreneurs.”

In recent years, Accel has launched some key initiatives to make a founder’s journey as frictionless as
possible and fuel the ecosystem’s growth. The firm’s open-source content and community platform,
Seed To Scale, democratizes company-building knowledge with actionable insights from successful
founders, operators , and industry leaders. Accel’s early stage scaling program, Accel Atoms, now in its
fourth iteration, has supported 36 startups to date that have collectively raised over $200 million. In the
past two years alone, Accel invested in over 27 AI startups in India or by Indian-origin founders.