At the same time, Accel’s global growth fund based in the US has also closed its latest fund with a $1.35 billion corpus, the people said, citing US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings. A portion of the funds raised will be allocated to Indian startups in their pre-IPO rounds, the people added.
Once formally closed, Accel’s latest fund will boost its total commitments in India to nearly $3 billion. It signals a likely more active strategy by Accel to deploy capital through the India and the US growth funds across various lifecycle stages of startups.
This comes at a time when the venture capital firm has had portfolio listings like Swiggy, Blackbuck, with more than half a dozen of its Indian portfolio firms set to go public next year. This includes jewellery maker Bluestone which has filed draft papers for its public issue.
The latest India fund will be deployed to double down on new and existing bets. Non-metro markets will also be tapped to tap a wider range of entrepreneurs.
Accel India did not respond to ET’s queries
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Accel—which first backed Swiggy in 2015–still holds about 4% in the food and grocery delivery firm valued at around $630 million as of Friday. It sold stakes worth over $50 million during Swiggy’s IPO recently. In total, Accel had pumped around $75 million in Swiggy, making it one of its biggest gains.
Accel’s investment in logistics firm Blackbuck is also sitting on gains of 4-5 times the original investment. Last year, Accel sold its remaining 1% stake in Flipkart, netting $350-400 million as part of a broader stake purchase by Flipkart’s US parent Walmart.
Besides these exits through big-ticket deals and IPOs, portfolio firms like Zetwerk, Captain Fresh, and Urban Company are among the list of firms expected to go public in 2025.
According to a Tracxn report, Accel, Peak XV Partners and Elevation Capital were the top early-stage investors in India’s startup sector in 2024.
Luggage maker Uppercase, quick commerce for premium goods—FirstClub, fast fashion brand Newme, and 10-minute food delivery firm Swish are among deals struck by the firm this year.
VC dry powder
Accel’s next fund, likely to be announced only in 2025, comes at a time when VC funds are sitting on sizable dry powder from funds closed in the last two years. Early-stage fund Stellaris Venture Partners closed a $300 million fund last month.
Lightspeed Venture Partners, Peak XV, 3one4 Capital are among funds sitting on large cash piles from funds raised over the last 12-18 months. Peak XV recently downsized its $2.85 billion fund by 16% more than a year after it split from Silicon Valley heavyweight Sequoia Capital.
In 2024, Bluestone investor IvyCap Ventures, former KKR India CEO Sanjay Nayar’s Sorin Investments, and climate-focused investor Avaana Capital closed sizable funds this year.