Accel and Prosus collaborate to support early-stage Indian startups | TechCrunch

Legendary investors Accel and Prosus have launched a new investment partnership to support Indian startups from day zero, targeting founders building large-scale solutions with the potential to serve the masses in the South Asian country.

The partnership, which was announced on Monday, marks the first time Prosus has invested in the founding phase. Both companies will co-invest from the early days of a startup, with a focus on companies tackling systemic challenges in sectors such as automation, energy transition, internet services and manufacturing.

India, the most populous country in the world with over 1.4 billion people, is experiencing rapid growth in its digital economy. The country has well over a billion internet users And more than 700 million smartphone usersmaking it the largest smartphone market after China. The Indian government-backed platforms such as the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Aadhaar have created a digital infrastructure that allows startups to quickly build and scale services. Yet much of India’s startup activity to date has focused on adapting global business models, with fewer companies taking on large-scale domestic challenges. The Accel-Prosus alliance wants to change that.

The partnership expands Accel’s early-stage founder program, Atomslaunched in July to support what the company calls “leap tech” startups – companies working on large-scale, systems-driven problems.

“We believe the time is right for the Indian startup ecosystem to move from adapting global businesses to creating Indian models that help India bridge its journey to becoming a developed country,” Pratik Agarwal, a partner at Accel, said in an interview.

He added that startups working on population-scale solutions often struggle to raise sufficient early capital, given their long gestation period and risk of heavy dilution before achieving meaningful traction.

“Hopefully we bring them a lot more early capital at the right time so they can make substantial progress without having to go through several rounds of false starts before they make progress,” he told TechCrunch.

Under the partnership, Prosus has committed to matching Accel’s investments in each company, with initial checks ranging from $100,000 to $1 million – an amount that could increase over time.

“We could both continue to do our own things in this area, but given how big the ambition is among these founders, and given how difficult the problem they are trying to solve, it made perfect sense for us to pool our resources,” said Ashutosh Sharma, head of the Indian ecosystem at Prosus.

Traditionally, Prosus has focused on late-stage investments globally. The Amsterdam-based company employs Swiggy, Meeshoand PayU are among the top investments in India.

While Prosus has committed to matching Accel’s investment in this partnership, Sharma indicated that it is not seeking an equal equity stake.

“For us, getting that equity in the first round is not important at all,” he told TechCrunch. “If we can truly identify a Swiggy, a Meesho, an iFood or a Tencent of tomorrow – today – that is success enough.”

The partnership also broadens the scope of Accel and Prosus’ operations in India. In recent months, the two companies have jointly invested in startups such as an AI-powered tutoring platform Arivihan and cheap internet provider Hello.

“Because of the AI-induced disruption happening around us, some countries will benefit disproportionately – and some countries will be disproportionately net losers,” Sharma said. “Two countries that seem very well positioned to benefit from this are the US and China. In that world order and in that world story, what is India’s space? And can India therefore, as part of this ‘leap tech’ revolution, find its rightful place not just in AI, but beyond it, is the other, shall we say, ambition that we have with this program.”

The alliance comes amid growing geopolitical tensions that have disrupted capital flows, technology supply chains and market access. This has prompted global investors to reassess where capital can be deployed safely and at scale. With a large domestic market, a growing digital infrastructure and a growing pool of tech talent, India is increasingly seen as a strategic priority in this landscape.

“India’s place in the global economy and geopolitical system is such that India needs to chart and accelerate its path as a self-sovereign, independent, developed country,” Agarwal told TechCrunch.

Accel has already supported more than 40 startups through its early-stage program, Atoms. More than 30% of them have raised follow-on funding from external investors, with Accel itself leading more than half of these rounds.

Venture capital 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 financing down 16% to $1.6 billion.

Yet India remains a key focus for global investors, driven by its large population and growing digital adoption. In September, eight US and Indian venture capital 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.