Storied buyers Accel and Prosus have launched a brand new funding partnership to again Indian startups from day zero, concentrating on founders constructing large-scale options with the potential to serve the plenty within the South Asian nation.
Introduced on Monday, the collaboration marks the primary time Prosus is investing on the formation stage. Each corporations will co-invest from a startup’s earliest days, with a give attention to firms addressing systemic challenges throughout sectors comparable to automation, power transition, web providers, and manufacturing.
India, the world’s most populous nation with over 1.4 billion individuals, is seeing fast development in its digital economic system. The nation has more than a billion internet users and over 700 million smartphone users, making it the second-largest smartphone market after China. The Indian government-backed platforms such because the Unified Funds Interface (UPI) and Aadhaar have created a digital infrastructure that allows startups to construct and scale providers shortly. But a lot of India’s startup exercise up to now has targeted on adapting international enterprise fashions, with fewer firms tackling large-scale home challenges. The Accel–Prosus alliance is trying to change that.
The partnership expands Accel’s early-stage founder program, Atoms X, launched in July to again what the agency calls “leap tech” startups — firms engaged on large-scale, systems-driven issues.
“We really feel now the time is correct for the Indian startup ecosystem to maneuver from adapting international companies to creating Indian fashions that assist India leapfrog its journey in turning into a developed nation,” mentioned Pratik Agarwal, a companion at Accel, in an interview.
He added that startups engaged on population-scale options usually battle to lift enough early capital, given their lengthy gestation intervals and the danger of heavy dilution earlier than reaching significant traction.
“Hopefully, we’re bringing much more early capital to them on the proper time in order that they will make substantial progress with out going by a number of rounds of false begins earlier than they make progress,” he informed TechCrunch.
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Underneath the partnership, Prosus has dedicated to match Accel’s funding in every firm, with preliminary checks starting from $100,000 to $1 million — a determine that might improve over time.
“We may each proceed to do our personal issues on this area, however given how massive the ambition is with these founders, and given how tough an issue that they’re attempting to unravel, it made all of the sense for us to place our sources collectively,” mentioned Ashutosh Sharma, head of India ecosystem at Prosus.
Historically, Prosus has targeted on late-stage investments globally. The Amsterdam-headquartered agency counts Swiggy, Meesho, and PayU amongst its key investments in India.
Whereas Prosus has dedicated to matching Accel’s funding on this partnership, Sharma indicated it isn’t looking for an equal fairness stake.
“For us, getting that fairness within the first spherical just isn’t vital in any respect,” he informed TechCrunch. “If we will actually establish a Swiggy, a Meesho, an iFood, or a Tencent of tomorrow — in the present day — that’s success sufficient.”
The partnership additionally broadens the scope of Accel and Prosus’s exercise in India. In current months, the 2 corporations have co-invested in startups comparable to AI-powered tutoring platform Arivihan and low-cost web service supplier Wiom.
“Due to this AI-led disruption that’s occurring round us, some nations will likely be disproportionate beneficiaries of this — and a few nations will likely be disproportionate internet, internet losers,” mentioned Sharma. “Two nations that appear very positioned to be beneficiaries are the U.S. and China. Now in that world order, and in that world narrative, what’s India’s area? And might India, subsequently, as a part of this ‘leap tech’ revolution, discover the rightful place, not simply in AI, however past AI, is the opposite, let’s say, ambition that we’ve with this program.”
The alliance comes amid rising geopolitical tensions which have disrupted capital flows, know-how provide chains, and market entry — prompting international buyers to reassess the place capital will be deployed safely and at scale. With a big home market, increasing digital infrastructure, and a deepening pool of technical expertise, India is more and more seen as a strategic precedence on this panorama.
“India’s place within the international economic system and the geopolitical system is such that India must chart and speed up its path like a self-sovereign, impartial, developed nation,” Agarwal informed TechCrunch.
Accel has already backed greater than 40 startups by its early-stage program, Atoms. Over 30% of them have gone on to lift follow-on funding from exterior buyers, with Accel itself main greater than half of these rounds.
VC funding in India fell 25% year-over-year to $4.8 billion within the first half of 2025, per Tracxn, with late-stage offers dropping 27% to $2.7 billion and early-stage funding down 16% to $1.6 billion.
Nonetheless, India stays a key focus for international buyers, pushed by its massive inhabitants and increasing digital adoption. In September, eight U.S. and Indian VC and personal fairness corporations — together with Accel, Blume Ventures, Celesta Capital, and Premji Make investments — tech-startups/” goal=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>fashioned a coalition to again deep tech startups with over $1 billion in dedication. The Accel–Prosus partnership is the most recent instance of how international VCs proceed to position long-term bets on India.
