Sequoia Capital India closes $195-million seed fund to foster start-ups

Sequoia Capital India raised $195 million to back Indian and Southeast Asian start-ups, doubling the capital the venture-capital firm is investing through an accelerator program created two years ago.

The program, called Surge and a brainchild of Managing Director Shailendra Singh, began in 2019 to give upstarts $1 million to $2 million in upfront capital as well as coaching and time with luminaries such as Sequoia partner Michael Moritz and Stripe Inc. co-founder Patrick Collison.

Since then, 69 startups in four cohorts have received a combined $172 million, and 30 companies from the first three cohorts have gone on to raise a total of $390 million after the programme.

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