US venture capital firm Accel, which has backed a slew of unicorns in India including Flipkart and Swiggy, has mopped up $650 million (approximately Rs 5,500 crore) for its eighth India fund, show regulatory filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The final close of Accel India VIII L.P. comes at a time when the global venture capitalist plans to deepen its India focus after its portfolio firm Swiggy went public late last year, earning it a 35X return on its $20 million investment. Accel first invested in Swiggy in 2015. Subsequently, it topped up in the food-delivery giant several times.
The VC seems to be replicating the strategy as it led a $2-million seed round in Swish, a rapid food delivery platform, in November amid the rising demand for ultra-fast food delivery in India.
Accel’s other portfolio firm Blackbuck (Zinka Logistics), which is an online trucking platform, also launched its IPO last year, raising around Rs 1,115 crore ($130 million).
Accel had raised $650 million for its seventh India fund — Accel India VII L.P — in 2022. Prior to that, it had garnered $550 million for its sixth India fund in 2020, and $450 million for its fifth India fund in 2016.
The venture capitalist also counts scooter-sharing startup Bounce, B2B industrial goods marketplace Moglix, online insurance startup Coverfox, and debt-financing startup Indifi Technologies, among its other portfolio companies in India.
Accel had backed Indian homegrown e-commerce giant Flipkart during its early days when the company was valued at a mere $4 million. The e-commerce giant was sold to US retail behemoth Walmart for $16 billion in 2018.
India-focused PE-VC funds raised over $6.8 billion as of December 14, 2024, show data from research firm Venture Intelligence. The corpus includes some maiden funds too, with names such as Playbook Partners, Filter Capital, and Pavestone Capital, among others.
Among other global venture capital firms, Norwest Venture Partners closed its seventeenth fund, NVP 17, at $3 billion to back startups in India, the US, and Israel. Norwest is also a backer of Swiggy.
In the West, Accel is known for early investments in companies such as Meta and Dropbox. It has also invested in major European companies such as Deliveroo, Spotify and Supercell. In May 2024, Accel said it raised a $650 million fund to invest in early-stage companies in Europe and Israel with a focus on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.
In Southeast Asia, its investees include Astro, a Jakarta-based quick delivery commerce startup, in which Accel co-anchored a $30-million Series A round in December 2021. The VC firm has also backed Pluang, an Indonesian online investing platform.
It made its first investment in Southeast Asia via Singapore-based online rental site Travelmob, which was eventually acquired by Nasdaq-listed vacation rental firm HomeAway in 2013.
