Accel and Prosus team up to back early-stage Indian startups

Storied investors Accel and Prosus person launched a caller concern concern to backmost Indian startups from time zero, targeting founders gathering large-scale solutions with the imaginable to service the masses successful the South Asian nation.

Announced connected Monday, the collaboration marks the archetypal clip Prosus is investing astatine the enactment stage. Both firms volition co-invest from a startup’s earliest days, with a absorption connected companies addressing systemic challenges crossed sectors specified arsenic automation, vigor transition, net services, and manufacturing.

India, the world’s astir populous state with implicit 1.4 cardinal people, is seeing accelerated maturation successful its integer economy. The state has more than a cardinal net users and over 700 cardinal smartphone users, making it the second-largest smartphone marketplace aft China. The Indian government-backed platforms specified arsenic the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Aadhaar person created a integer infrastructure that enables startups to physique and standard services quickly. Yet overmuch of India’s startup enactment to day has focused connected adapting planetary concern models, with less companies tackling large-scale home challenges. The Accel–Prosus confederation is looking to alteration that.

The concern expands Accel’s early-stage laminitis program, Atoms X, launched successful July to backmost what the steadfast calls “leap tech” startups — companies moving connected large-scale, systems-driven problems.

“We consciousness present the clip is close for the Indian startup ecosystem to determination from adapting planetary businesses to creating Indian models that assistance India leapfrog its travel successful becoming a developed country,” said Pratik Agarwal, a spouse astatine Accel, successful an interview.

He added that startups moving connected population-scale solutions often conflict to rise capable aboriginal capital, fixed their agelong gestation periods and the hazard of dense dilution earlier reaching meaningful traction.

“Hopefully, we are bringing a batch much aboriginal superior to them astatine the close clip truthful that they tin marque important advancement without going done respective rounds of mendacious starts earlier they marque progress,” helium told TechCrunch.

Under the partnership, Prosus has committed to lucifer Accel’s concern successful each company, with archetypal checks ranging from $100,000 to $1 cardinal — a fig that could summation implicit time.

“We could some proceed to bash our ain things successful this space, but fixed however ample the ambition is with these founders, and fixed however hard a occupation that they are trying to solve, it made each the consciousness for america to enactment our resources together,” said Ashutosh Sharma, caput of India ecosystem astatine Prosus.

Traditionally, Prosus has focused connected late-stage investments globally. The Amsterdam-headquartered steadfast counts Swiggy, Meesho, and PayU among its cardinal investments successful India.

While Prosus has committed to matching Accel’s concern successful this partnership, Sharma indicated it is not seeking an equivalent equity stake.

“For us, getting that equity successful the archetypal circular is not important astatine all,” helium told TechCrunch. “If we tin genuinely place a Swiggy, a Meesho, an iFood, oregon a Tencent of time — contiguous — that is occurrence enough.”

The concern besides broadens the scope of Accel and Prosus’s enactment successful India. In caller months, the 2 firms person co-invested successful startups specified arsenic AI-powered tutoring level Arivihan and low-cost net work supplier Wiom.

“Because of this AI-led disruption that is happening astir us, immoderate countries volition beryllium disproportionate beneficiaries of this — and immoderate countries volition beryllium disproportionate net, nett losers,” said Sharma. “Two countries that look precise placed to beryllium beneficiaries are the U.S. and China. Now successful that satellite order, and successful that satellite narrative, what is India’s space? And tin India, therefore, arsenic portion of this ‘leap tech’ revolution, find the rightful place, not conscionable successful AI, but beyond AI, is the other, let’s say, ambition that we person with this program.”

The confederation comes amid increasing geopolitical tensions that person disrupted superior flows, exertion proviso chains, and marketplace entree — prompting planetary investors to reassess wherever superior tin beryllium deployed safely and astatine scale. With a ample home market, expanding integer infrastructure, and a deepening excavation of method talent, India is progressively seen arsenic a strategical precedence successful this landscape.

“India’s spot successful the planetary system and the geopolitical strategy is specified that India needs to illustration and accelerate its way similar a self-sovereign, independent, developed country,” Agarwal told TechCrunch.

Accel has already backed much than 40 startups done its early-stage program, Atoms. Over 30% of them person gone connected to rise follow-on backing from outer investors, with Accel itself starring much than fractional of those rounds.

VC backing successful India fell 25% year-over-year to $4.8 cardinal successful the archetypal fractional of 2025, per Tracxn, with late-stage deals dropping 27% to $2.7 cardinal and early-stage backing down 16% to $1.6 billion.

Still, India remains a cardinal absorption for planetary investors, driven by its ample colonisation and expanding integer adoption. In September, 8 U.S. and Indian VC and backstage equity firms — including Accel, Blume Ventures, Celesta Capital, and Premji Invest — formed a conjugation to backmost heavy tech startups with implicit $1 cardinal successful commitment. The Accel–Prosus concern is the latest illustration of however planetary VCs proceed to spot semipermanent bets connected India.