Sequoia closes fifth India fund at $920m
Sequoia Capital has closed its latest India fund – which has a minority allocation to Southeast Asia – at $920 million, comprising an $875 million institutional corpus and a GP commitment of $45 million.
The fundraising process was finalized in early January, according to a source familiar with the situation, with almost all the capital coming from existing investors. A regulatory filing for Sequoia Capital India V was made at the beginning of November last year.
The venture capital firm announced a final close on its fourth India fund as recently as May 2014. The vehicle had a corpus of $530 million and an expanded remit to take in Southeast Asia as well. It targets the technology, consumer and healthcare sectors, with a particular focus on mobile, online payment, big data, software-as-a-service, cloud computing, enterprise software and medical and lifestyle-related opportunities.
The firm's first India fund, Sequoia Capital India Growth Fund I, raised $400 million in 2006. According to AVCJ Research, two funds followed in 2007 - a second growth vehicle of $725 million and an early-stage vehicle of $300 million. There was an upheaval between Funds III and IV as a merger with WestBridge Capital didn't turn out as planned and the WestBridge founders restarted their own franchise in 2011.
AVCJ Research has records of more than 40 investments by Sequoia in India and Southeast Asia in 2015. It has participated in rounds for the likes of recharge platform FreeCharge - subsequently acquired by Snapdeal - healthcare management platform Practo; logistics start-ups Grofers, Roadrunnr and PepperTap; hotel booking marketplace OyoRooms; and property listings platform Grabhouse.
In Southeast Asia, Sequoia has backed the likes of property portal 99.co, online fitness platform Kfit, and motorcycle taxi firm Go-Jek.
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