Sequoia raises $2.8 Bn fund for India and SEA

Even Indian startups grappled with a funding crunch, marquee venture capital firm Sequoia Capital has announced that it raised $2 billion in growth and venture funds for India. Including funds meant for Southeast Asia, the VC firm has raised $2.85 billion.

The firm said it would use these funds across all stages of startups, from seed funding to IPO. 

“This fundraise, which comes at a time when markets are starting to cool after a very long bull run, signals our deep commitment to the region,” the firm wrote in a blog post.

The record-breaking corpus has come after two years of Sequoia’s $1.3 billion worth fund for India and SEA that was announced in July 2020. The Silicon Valley-based firm also closed $195 million fund for its second seed fund for the two regions in March last year.

Sequoia Capital runs three funds for India: seed, venture and growth. For backing startups at the seed stage, it has a 16-week-long accelerator program called Surge, which announced its first cohort in March 2019. So far, Surge has launched six editions and it helps founders who often go through pre-seed, seed and multiple bridges before getting to Series A.

While the firm did not announce its plans for the money, an ET report mentioned that $300 million of the total amount raised will go towards Surge.

This year, Sequoia Capital India has announced fresh investments into BNPL firm Tabby, software firm SaaS Labs, fintech firm Lean Technologies, medical subscriptions service Kenko Health, insurance provider Digit Insurance, revenue growth firm Toplyne, crypto player Flint, POS & restaurant management firm Foodics, edtech firm Growth School, and market intelligence firm Slintel.

The closure of the new fund also comes at a time when Sequoia Capital has been embroiled into controversies due to mismanagement in some of its portfolio companies. Singapore-based Zilingo and Indian B2B payment unicorn BharatPe had fired their co-founder on pretext of financial irregularities while Trell is also facing forensic audit— all Sequoia-backed companies.