Accel closes sixth India VC fund at $550m

Accel raised $450 million for its fifth India fund in late 2016. Funds III and IV closed at $157 million in 2011 and $325 million in 2015, respectively. Fund VI is said to bring the firm's assets under management in the country to around $1.6 billion.

Focus sectors have historically included consumer, enterprise, software-as-a-service, financial technology, B2B services, and healthcare. Food delivery, digital payments, e-commerce, agricultural tech, education, insurance, and logistics are expected to feature in the new vintage.

"Today, the opportunity ahead is significantly bigger than when we started in 2005: India can now digitally identify 1.3 billion people, has 600 million internet users and 150 million online transacting customers with a national payments platform that processes $20 billion a month," Accel said in a statement.

Accel claims to have invested more than 100 companies in India, with early activity including a $800,000 commitment to online retailer Flipkart, which was acquired by Walmart last year in a $16 billion deal. Accel said the transaction valued Flipkart at more than $21 billion and represented the largest-ever acquisition of a private VC-backed company in the world. 

Other standout investments include food ordering app Swiggy, enterprise software provider Freshworks, and trucking logistics platform BlackBuck, all of which have achieved unicorn status. Recent investment activity includes participation in a $75 million round in May for fitness services company Curefit, which is reportedly in talks regarding additional investment at a valuation of $1 billion.

India's thriving unicorn market is seen as a reflection of converging trends around favorable demographics, digital infrastructure creation, and growing interest from overseas investors. "In the last decade, Indian tech start-ups have created around $100 billion of enterprise value, and as the GDP doubles in the next decade, we see start-ups creating a disproportionately higher value," Accel added.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Fundraising
• Venture
• India
• Accel Partners
• seed
• Technology