Silicon Valley-based Sequoia Capital has closed its sixth India-focused fund at $695 million. The fund will focus on early and growth stage startups in the technology, consumer, and healthcare domains, across the Indian and Southeast Asian market.
The firm had planned to raise $1 billion for its sixth India-focused fund but had later decided to reduce the size. Although the firm will be raising an $8 billion global growth fund, that will be used for late-stage investments in India, Southeast Asia, along with US and China.
Sequoia Capital had raised $930 million for its fifth India fund, back in 2016.
The firm’s total asset under management in India is now grown to $3.9 billion, leaving behind other private equity giants like Nexus Venture Partners with $1.2 billion, SAIF Partners with over $1 billion, Accel Partners with $1 billion, and Matrix Partners with $710 million.
“Moments like these give us an opportunity to pause, reflect, refresh and recommit to the cause. For Sequoia, the goal is clear: to be the preferred partner for daring founders who want to build legendary companies. Sequoia India has invested consistently and with conviction, every single year – in good and bad markets,” said the company in its blog post.
Sequoia Capital has made more than 200 investments in India and Southeast Asia region. Some of its investments in India include BYJU’s, Awfis, Freecharge, Drip Capital, Freshworks, Grofers, Mobikwik, Ola, Oyo, among many others.
Here is a comprehensive list of top investments by Sequoia Capital in India.
The firm has also announced the exit of Abhay Pandey, who led the investment in perfume maker Fogg and Indian beer brand Bira 91. He is the third managing director to exit the firm after VT Bharadwaj left earlier this year, and Gautam Mago’s exited in June last year.
Pandey is speculated to join his former colleagues, Bharadwaj and Mago, who established A91 Partners last month, to invest in series B startups.