Sequoia Capital has had a very busy time in India and South-East Asia investing in startups and exiting profitably from some others. The venture capital firm is now in the process of raising a $1 billion fund with an Indian focus, according to an Economic Times report. This is the sixth and highest ever fund it has raised here.
With its roots in the Silicon Valley and an office in Singapore , the VC firm last raised $930 million. It is currently managing investments to the extent of $3.2 billion in these 2 regions, via Sequoia Capital India and it won’t be any different with this $1 billion kitty as well.
It has to be said that the year went by was virtually dominated by the Chinese and Japanese investment behemoths leaving others far behind. Now that this large infusion in expected to take place, the year 2018 may see more Indian startups that have a deserving formula to succeed being funded by Sequoia Capital and other VCs.
According to one report, by an organization that has an eye on the funding of startups in India, the total volume of funding that happened in 2017 amounted to $1.3 billion. This was the amount that the early stage and growth stage startups.
Sequoia Capital may create separate streams within its funding portfolios so that technology startups and those engaged in the consumer-oriented businesses and companies, where technology is not the key business. It is also learnt that the VC firm may constitute 2 different committees to oversee these funds and to process the investment proposals. These committees are yet to be in place and is still work in progress.
As pointed out, Southeast Asia will also be tagged along with India as far as this $1 billion fund raised is concerned and there would be a separate team to handle that.
Among the investments made in India, so far, by Sequoia Capital some stand out, such as Zomato, Mu Sigma, and Byju’s in the education technology sector. Sequoia Capital is reported to have made investments worth $183 million during 2017 and the number of companies invested in stands at 23 and the business verticals covered are technology, consumer and healthcare. Among other success stories for Sequoia Capital, particularly in the consumer products space in India, Prataap and Fogg are the 2 brands that have been very productive.
Some of its no-so-successful investments include Tinyowl, RoadRunnr, and Tapzo. And it did make an investment in Snapdeal, but later sold the stake.