Renowned investors Accel and Prosus have launched a new investment partnership to back Indian startups from day one, targeting founders building large-scale solutions with the potential to serve the masses in the South Asian nation.
Announced on Monday, the partnership marks the first time Prosus has invested in a seed stage. Both companies will co-invest from the early days of a startup, with a focus on companies facing systemic challenges in areas such as automation, energy transition, Internet services and manufacturing.
India, the world’s most populous country with over 1.4 billion inhabitants, is experiencing rapid growth in its digital economy. The country has more than a billion internet users and over 700 million smartphone usersmaking it the second largest smartphone market after China. Indian government-backed platforms such as Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Aadhaar have created a digital infrastructure that enables startups to build and scale services quickly. However, much of India’s startup activity to date has focused on adapting global business models, with fewer companies tackling large-scale domestic challenges. The Accel–Prosus alliance is trying to change that.
The partnership expands Accel’s early-stage founder program, People Xlaunched in July to support what the company calls “technology leapfrog” startups — companies working on large-scale systems-based problems.
“We feel now is the right time for the Indian startup ecosystem to move from adapting global businesses to creating Indian models that help India navigate its journey to becoming a developed country,” Accel partner Pratik Agarwal said in an interview.
He added that startups working on crowd-scale solutions often struggle to raise sufficient early capital, given the long gestation periods and the risk of high dilution before reaching substantial traction.
“Hopefully we’re bringing them a lot more early capital at the right time so they can make meaningful progress without going through multiple rounds of false starts before they make progress,” he told TechCrunch.
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As part of the partnership, Prosus has committed to matching Accel’s investment in each company, with initial checks ranging from $100,000 to $1 million – an amount that could grow over time.
“We could both continue to do our own thing in this space, but given how big the ambition is with these founders and given how difficult a problem they’re trying to solve, it made sense to pool our resources,” said Ashutosh Sharma, head of India ecosystem at Prosus.
Traditionally, Prosus has focused on late-stage investments globally. The Amsterdam-based company measures Swiggy, Meeshoand PayU among its key investments in India.
While Prosus has committed to match Accel’s investment in this partnership, Sharma said it is not seeking an equivalent equity stake.
“For us, getting that equity in the first round is not important at all,” he told TechCrunch. “If we can actually identify a Swiggy, a Meesho, an iFood or a Tencent of tomorrow – today – that’s success enough.”
The partnership also expands the reach of Accel and Prosus’ business in India. In recent months, the two companies have co-invested in startups such as AI tutoring platform Arivihan and low-cost Internet service provider Wiom.
“Because of this AI-driven disruption happening around us, some countries are going to be disproportionately benefiting from it — and some countries are going to be disproportionately net, net losers,” Sharma said. “Two countries that seem very favored are the US and China. Now in this world order and in this world narrative, what is India’s place? And can India, as part of this ‘leapfrog’ revolution, find the right place, not just in artificial intelligence, but beyond artificial intelligence, is the other, let’s say, ambition that we have with this program.”
The alliance comes amid rising geopolitical tensions that have disrupted capital flows, technology supply chains and market access – prompting global investors to reassess where capital can be deployed safely and at scale. With a large domestic market, expanding digital infrastructure and deepening technical talent pool, India is increasingly seen as a strategic priority in this landscape.
“India’s position in the global economy and geopolitical system is such that India must chart and accelerate its course as a self-governing, independent, developed country,” Agarwal told TechCrunch.
Accel has already backed more than 40 startups through the Atoms early stage program. Over 30% of them went on to raise further funding from outside investors, with Accel itself leading more than half of those rounds.
VC funding in India fell 25% year-on-year to $4.8 billion in the first half of 2025, according to Tracxn, with late-stage deals down 27% to $2.7 billion and early-stage funding down 16% to $1.6 billion.
However, India remains a key target for global investors, driven by its large population and expanding digital adoption. In September, eight US and Indian VC and private equity firms – including Accel, Blume Ventures, Celesta Capital and Premji Invest – formed a coalition to back deep-tech startups with a commitment of more than $1 billion. The Accel–Prosus partnership is the latest example of how global VCs continue to place long-term bets on India.
