Sequoia Capital India’s Surge accelerator announced on Thursday (March 25) that it has closed its second round of seed funding at $195 million, aimed at supporting startups across India and Southeast Asia.
The news comes on the two-year anniversary of the launch of Surge, a first-of-its-kind program designed to help “daring founders” from the region with funding in the $1 million to $2 million range, along with company-building help and mentorship.
“While we are early in our journey, we’ve been amazed at how quickly the ecosystem has deepened over the last 24 months, thrilled by the caliber of founders we’ve been privileged to partner with, and incredibly excited by how much they’ve achieved in such a short period of time,” Surge said in its announcement. “Inspired by their success, we’re doubling down.”
In the past two years, Surge, which has previously announced a partnership with Facebook, has grown to 69 startups in more than 15 sectors, representing 164 founders from 17 different nationalities. Of those startups:
Other startups Surge has funded include those in FinTech, HealthTech and EdTech.
Startups from the first four Surge cohorts raised $172 million in their rounds, with more than 100 co-investors in those rounds. More than half of those initial startups raised $390 million in follow-up capital after their time in the program ended.
Surge’s announcement comes at a time in which India is seeing a record number of initial public offerings (IPOs). As PYMNTS reported on Wednesday (March 24), companies in India have generated more than $2 billion in IPOs so far this year, the highest level of IPO fundraising in that nation in 13 years. This is part of a backdrop of VC investment in Asia, which is playing out much differently than it did in Silicon Valley. For a closer look at this picture, read PYMNTS’ 2020 interview with Accelerating Asia’s Craig Dixon.
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