Accel raises $650 mn fund to invest in Indian and SE Asian start-ups

It was an early investor in unicorn start-ups like Flipkart, Swiggy, Zetwerk, Cultfit, Acko and others

Venture capital (VC) firm Accel, an early investor in unicorns like Flipkart, Swiggy, Zetwerk, Cultfit, Acko and others, has raised its seventh fund for India and SE Asia with a corpus of $650 million.

“India currently has 200 million digitally transacting consumers, a number that is expected to grow to 500 million in the next five years. In India and Southeast Asia we are the first institutional investor in over 85 per cent of our investments, and 95 per cent of our investments are Seed or Series A,” the firm said.

Its previous fundraise was closed in December 2019 with a corpus of $550 million. Before the latest fund, Accel India had cumulatively raised over $1.5 billion across six funds. Accel India was set up in 2008 by Mahendran Balachandran, Subrata Mitra and Prashanth Prakash and is regarded as one of the top VCs.

The latest fund is also an affirmation of Accel’s track record. It was the first investor in Flipkart, putting in a measly $800,000 in 2008. In 2018, when Walmart acquired Flipkart at a valuation of $21 billion, Accel is said to have made $800 million - $1 billion, on a total investment of $125 million, while still retaining some stake.

It also put $1 million seed money in Swiggy which has become one of the top food-tech players in the country valued at $10.7 billion.

“When we established Accel’s first fund in India in 2005, just one in fifty Indians had access to the Internet. Even so, there were early signs indicating a significant tech ecosystem could be built across the region: a young and vibrant pool of technical talent, an emerging middle class with increasing means to consume, and individuals with aspirations to innovate and build,” the firm said.