Silicon Valley venture capital firm Accel, which has backed Indian startups such as Flipkart and Swiggy, is expected to close its eighth India-focused fund by the end of the year, the Arc reported on Tuesday.
The firm is targeting a minimum of $600 million for the eighth fund. The report added that the fund size may exceed $700 million depending on the response from LPs over the next few months. In March 2022, Accel raised $650 million for its seventh fund.
Accel declined to comment when contacted by DealStreetAsia.
Accel has invested in major Indian companies such as Moglix, BookMyShow, Infra.Market and Urban Company. Its recent investments in India include Uppercase, Newme, Shivalik Small Finance Bank, and Testsigma.
The US investor, which is known for its early bets on Meta and Dropbox, entered India in 2008 by merging with local firm Erasmic. Erasmic’s founders Subrata Mitra, Prashanth Prakash, and Mahendran Balachandran joined Accel as partners.
The Accel team is expected to begin meetings with LPs in September, the Arc report said, adding that there is already significant interest from existing LPs.
Accel joins several India-focused domestic and global funds such as Peak XV and Lightspeed, that are expected to raise large investment vehicles, the Arc report noted.
Global venture capital and growth equity investment firm Norwest Venture Partners, known for backing restaurant aggregator and unicorn Swiggy, has closed its seventeenth fund, NVP 17, at $3 billion to back startups in India, the US, and Israel.
Separately, US-headquartered venture capital firm General Catalyst acquired Indian VC Venture Highway earlier this year, to double down its investment efforts in the country.
Among other VC firms that have recently raised capital, 3one4 Capital closed its fourth fund at $200 million in May. While Matrix Partners made the final close of its fourth fund at $550 million.
Separately, Chiratae Ventures, India’s largest homegrown VC fund, concluded the fundraising process for its first Chiratae Growth Fund (CGF-I), at Rs 1,001 crore (about $122 million).
