Sequoia to raise $1.25 bn for new India fund: Report

Sequoia Capital India, the storied Menlo Park, California-headquartered venture capital firm’s local investing arm, is in line to raise its largest country-specific fund yet. The firm is expected to raise a new $1.25 billion fund for India, The Economic Times reported on Friday, citing sources.

Sequoia has upped the size of the latest fund by 80%, compared to the $695 million fund, its sixth for this market, which was launched in 2018.

Sequoia declined to comment on TechCircle’s queries on the development.

An avid participant in the Indian startup ecosystem, Sequoia has backed several popular Indian unicorns including edtech company Byju’s, budget hospitality chain Oyo, ride hailing platform Ola and foodtech player Zomato. Apart from consumer internet, the firm’s portfolio also includes enterprise technology startups such as Freshworks, Mu Sigma, and Druva. Overall, the firm  has backed more than 200 companies across India and Southeast Asia.

Sequoia, the ET report added, will split the new fund into two -- one dedicated for early stage investments and the other for growth bets. While the growth stage corpus will account for $750-$800 million, the early stage corpus will be about $450-$500 million, the report said.

Sequoia’s current leadership team in India includes Mohit Bhatnagar, Abheek Anand, Shailendra Singh, GV Ravishankar, Piyush Gupta and Shailesh Lakhani.  Last year, Google India chief Rajan Anandan joined the firm and now leads its seed accelerator programme, among other responsibilities. The firm also recently roped in Uber’s Asia head Amit Jain to the team.