Accel and Prosus Join Forces to Fuel Early-Stage Innovation in India
New Investment Alliance Targets “Leap Tech” Startups Solving Systemic Challenges
Two major global investors, Accel and Prosus, have announced a strategic partnership designed to support India’s next generation of startups — right from inception. This collaboration, unveiled on Monday, represents Prosus’s first-ever venture into the formation stage of startups and marks a pivotal shift toward early-stage investment in the region.
Both firms will co-invest from a company’s earliest days, targeting founders tackling India’s large-scale challenges in key areas such as automation, clean energy, manufacturing, and digital services.
India’s Digital Landscape: Ready for Transformation
As the world’s most populous country with over 1.4 billion people, India is witnessing explosive growth in its digital economy. With more than a billion internet users and 700 million smartphone owners, the nation stands as the second-largest smartphone market after China.
Government-led initiatives such as the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Aadhaar have created a powerful digital backbone — enabling startups to innovate and scale faster than ever before. However, much of the ecosystem has so far focused on adapting global business models, leaving vast untapped potential for homegrown solutions.
The Accel–Prosus alliance aims to bridge this gap by funding ventures that directly address India’s domestic, population-scale challenges.
Expanding Accel’s Atoms X Program
This partnership builds on Accel’s Atoms X, launched in July, which supports what the firm calls “leap tech” startups — those tackling deep, system-wide problems.
“We feel now the time is right for the Indian startup ecosystem to move from adapting global businesses to creating Indian models that help India leapfrog its journey in becoming a developed country,”
— Pratik Agarwal, Partner at Accel (TechCrunch interview)
Agarwal emphasized that startups working on population-scale innovations often struggle to secure sufficient early capital due to their long development timelines and high risk of early dilution.
“Hopefully, we are bringing a lot more early capital to them at the right time so that they can make substantial progress without going through several rounds of false starts before they make progress,” he added.
Financial Commitment and Collaboration
Under the new initiative, Prosus will match Accel’s investment in each startup, with initial funding ranging between $100,000 and $1 million, and potential for larger follow-on rounds.
“We could both continue to do our own things in this space, but given how large the ambition is with these founders, and given how difficult a problem that they are trying to solve, it made all the sense for us to put our resources together,”
— Ashutosh Sharma, Head of India Ecosystem at Prosus
Traditionally known for its late-stage investments, Amsterdam-based Prosus holds stakes in Indian giants such as Swiggy, Meesho, and PayU. However, Sharma clarified that equity ownership is not the firm’s immediate goal.
“For us, getting that equity in the first round is not important at all. If we can truly identify a Swiggy, a Meesho, an iFood, or a Tencent of tomorrow — today — that is success enough,” he said.
Recent Co-Investments and AI Ambitions
Accel and Prosus have already jointly invested in startups like Arivihan, an AI-powered tutoring platform, and Wiom, a low-cost internet service provider. The firms also see India as a key player in the global AI-driven disruption.
“Because of this AI-led disruption that is happening around us, some countries will be disproportionate beneficiaries… Two countries that seem very placed to be beneficiaries are the U.S. and China. Now in that world order, what is India’s space?” Sharma asked.
He added that the firms aim to help India find its “rightful place” in this new global tech order — both in AI and beyond.
India’s Growing Strategic Importance
Amid global geopolitical shifts, which have impacted investment flows and supply chains, India’s stable domestic market and growing digital infrastructure have made it a strategic destination for global capital.
“India’s place in the global economy and the geopolitical system is such that India needs to chart and accelerate its path like a self-sovereign, independent, developed country,”
— Pratik Agarwal, Accel Partner
Venture Capital Landscape: A Resilient Outlook
Despite a 25% year-over-year decline in total VC funding to $4.8 billion during the first half of 2025 (according to Tracxn), investor interest in India remains strong. Early-stage deals dropped 16% to $1.6 billion, while late-stage rounds fell 27% to $2.7 billion.
Accel’s Atoms program has already funded 40+ startups, over 30% of which have secured follow-on funding, with Accel leading more than half of those rounds.
In September, eight venture capital and private equity firms — including Accel, Blume Ventures, Celesta Capital, and Premji Invest — formed a $1 billion coalition to back deep-tech startups, signaling ongoing confidence in India’s innovation potential.
A Long-Term Bet on India’s Future
With this partnership, Accel and Prosus are not just injecting capital — they are laying the groundwork for India’s next era of tech innovation. By focusing on startups addressing large-scale national needs, both investors hope to nurture companies that can transform India’s economy and, ultimately, influence global technology trends.
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