With New $650-Mn War Chest For India, Accel Eyes Multiple Startups

New Delhi: Global venture capital firm Accel on Monday announced that it has raised a $650 million early-stage fund to fuel the next generation of category defining startups in the focus sectors of artificial intelligence (AI), consumer, fintech and manufacturing.

Accel is the first institutional investor in 80 per cent of its portfolio companies. Its prominent portfolio companies include BlackBuck, BlueStone, Cult.fit, Flipkart, Freshworks, Swiggy, Urban Company and Zetwerk. “Accel, a leading global venture capital firm, today announced that it has raised a $650 million early-stage fund dedicated to supporting bold founders in India and Southeast Asia,” the company said in a release.

Accel said its latest fund – eighth in India and Southeast Asia -- builds on its commitment to partnering with early-stage founders to establish disruptive, category defining businesses that create meaningful impact. Sectors in focus for this fund include AI, consumer, fintech and manufacturing. On Accel’s radar will be platforms that enable enterprise AI use cases using agentic technologies, LLMs and SLMs (large language models and small language models), Services as Software firms (AI startups taking advantage of India’s large IT services capabilities to provide better automation offerings) and vertical AI.