Accel closes $650 million for new India fund

Accel has raised $650 million for its eighth fund in India as the US venture firm expands its investment strategy in the South Asian market.

The new fund belongs to the company The seventh India Fund was secured in March 2022. Accel – which has backed companies including e-commerce group Flipkart, food delivery platform Swiggy, and software group Freshworks – has established itself as India’s most successful venture firm, acting as the first institutional investor in its portfolio companies.

The company wrote Flipkart’s first corporate check at a post-cash valuation of $4 million — an investment that has since appreciated, with Flipkart now worth more than $36 billion. Partner Anand Daniel led Swiggy’s seed round at a $2 million pre-valuation. Swiggy went public in November The world’s largest technology IPO of 2024With a value of $11.3 billion.

By 2022, the company’s top-performing startups were collectively valued at more than $100 billion.

The dynamics of Indian startups have changed a lot since Accel made its debut over a decade ago. The main shift has been the increased number of public lists, addressing previous criticisms. There are more than a half-dozen Indian companies backed by Accel, including manufacturing platform Zetwerk and jewelry company Bluestone It is scheduled to go public this yearTechCrunch previously reported.

“India is fast becoming a promising hub for technology IPOs driven by strong capital markets and a thriving innovation ecosystem that continues to attract significant investor interest,” Daniel (left in image above) told TechCrunch in November.

Accel also remains one of the few Silicon Valley investors not to spin off its Indian unit, while rivals Sequoia and Matrix have severed ties with their Indian funds in recent years.

The company recently It has deepened its focus towards rural Indiabetting on the conventional wisdom that companies serving affluent consumers in small cities and towns can achieve sustainable success.