09Alluding to the technological and start-up boom in India, America-based Venture Capital firm, Sequoia Capital India has notified its US parent and investors, directing them to raise funds amounting to $2.8 billion for Indian and Southeast Asian start-ups. For the first time in seven years of its functioning in the mentioned areas, Sequoia Capital aims to amass separate funds for India and Southeast Asia, apart from the venture and growth funds, as per the report by Money Control. The pitch for the sought funds is expected to be held at a common event, and the final allocations will be set by July.
The US partners at Sequoia, led by Roelof Botha, will pitch to the investors for the funding for Indian and Southeast Asian start-ups. The whopping $2.8 billion funding will follow the last major fuelling to the start-up scene in India when Sequoia raised $1.35 billion during the raging first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the mid-2020s. It is expected that after the firm raises new funds, Sequoia will be the VC managing the biggest fund ($8 billion) in India so far.
“Such a large fund not only makes Sequoia much stronger, but it also means other fund managers will find it much harder to raise money because LPs (Limited Partners) have a certain allocation to each market,’ a source at the venture firm told Money Control. Sequoia has raised funds for some of the most dominant tech start-ups in India’s silicon scene.
The venture firm’s investments range from Zomato to Unacademy to Razorpay to Freshworks’. The firm also has stakes worth $700 million in ventures such as Pine Labs, Indigo Paints, Stovekraft, and Vini Cosmetics.
With Sequoia gearing up to raise large funds for Indian and Southeast Asian start-ups, the VC also tweaked their investors’ army and promoted five investors to partnerships. These investors are Ashish Agarwal, Harshjit Sethi, Sakshi Chopra, Ishaan Mittal, and Tejeshwi Sharma. In addition, Amit Jain, the managing director at Sequoia India, who joined the VC in 2019, stepped down from the position.
As per reports, Jain, going forward, will be an entrepreneur-in-residence and will work on his own venture. Although, Jain will get access to Sequoia’s operators, networks, and partners before he steps down. Before joining Sequoia as the managing director, Jain was the Asia Pacific Head at Uber.
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