California-based Accel Partners, leading early and growth-stage venture capital firm was founded in 1983 by Arthur Patterson and Jim Swartz. With a vast experience in building and supporting companies, Accel partners with exceptional founders to facilitate the growth of their companies. Its vast portfolio is mainly focused in technology domains including consumer, infrastructure, media, mobile, SaaS, and security.
Accel Partners has been one of the earliest and the most active players in the Indian market. The opportunities in the growing Indian technology domain have propelled many international venture capital firms towards the Indian markets. Being an active investor, Accel has had an opportunity to scout for some of the most growth-centric technology companies.
Here is a list of Top 10 investments by Accel Partners, since its early entry in the Indian market:
Myntra: India’s leading fashion e-commerce platform for fashion and lifestyle was founded by Ashutosh Lawania, Raveen Sastry, Vineet Saxena in 2007 with its headquarters in Bengaluru. Accel Partners discovered Myntra early in 2008 and has been an investor since leading its series A funding round of $5 million. Myntra has since been acquired by Flipkart in 2014 and continues to grow under its guidance.
Flipkart: Indian e-commerce giant was a gem of a find by the firm early in 2009. Accel Partners was involved in Flipkart’s first institutional funding round that raised $1 million. Flipkart has come a long way and diversified itself into other domains. It has given favourable returns to the firm since its early investment.
Flipkart was recently acquired by the US retail giant Walmart in a landmark $16 billion deal. This will further propel the growth of the e-commerce competing with another US-based e-commerce giant Amazon.
Qwikcilver: It founded by Kumar Sudarsan and Pratap T P in 2007. Qwikcilver had raised $10 million in series A with an investment from Accel Partners in 2010. Qwikcilver is a global leader in end-to-end gifting & stored-value solutions for retail and corporate customers.
Freshworks: A SaaS-based business solutions provider was founded by Girish Mathrubootham, Shan Krishnasamy in 2010. Freshworks had raised an early $1 million in series A led by Accel Partners. It provides support and sales solutions to businesses. It has over 150,000 clients across the globe including notable names in the industry like Bridgestone, Cisco, Zomato, Avast, among many others.
HolidayIQ: India’s first traveller community-based holiday information portal was founded by Hari Nair in 2004 with its headquarter in Bengaluru. HolidayIQ had raised $5 million in series A funding with an investment from Accel Partners in 2013. It is only beginning to establish itself in the market but it has a long way as there is some stiff competition in the domain.
Coverfox: An online insurance aggregator platform was founded in 2013 by Devendra Rane and Varun Dua. Coverfox is an IRDAI authorised insurance broking firm that aims to simply insurance for its customers. Accel first invested in Coverfox as a lead investor in its series B funding which received a funding of $12 million. With this investment, Accel strengthened its fintech portfolio as there is a considerable growth opportunity in the domain.
LetsVenture: It provides an online platform for startups to raise funds from angel investors. LetsVenture was founded by Sanjay Jha and Shanti Mohan in September 2013. The platform soon gained the attention of Accel Partners and raised $650,000 in seed funding. Accel Partners continues to be an investor and provides support and guidance from a vast experience in helping startups. LetsVenture has since helped a number of innovative startups to raise funds.
Ola: Accel Partners was a late entrant in Ola’s list of investors. It first invested in Ola in its series E funding which raised $400 million. Ola has been one of Accel Partners’ important investments since it recently started making money on every ride. Earlier this year, Ola also started its overseas operations starting in Australia. All this while staying competitive with its rival Uber.
Ola’s acquisition of Foodpanda provides it with another vertical to focus on and has maintained a steady growth rate, keeping its investors happy.
Swiggy: This food-tech startup was another investment made by Accel Partners in 2015 participating early in series A and series B funding. Swiggy provides online food ordering and delivery for its users with an option of live order tracking. Although Swiggy has a decent customer base, it faces a constant competition from Zomato and Foodpanda, among other foodtech startups in the country.
UrbanClap: This on-demand home services provider platform was founded by
Abhiraj Bhal, Raghav Chandra, and Varun Khaitan in 2014 with its headquarter in Delhi. Accel Partners has been an investor in UrbanClap since its early seed funding days in 2015. UrbanClap has established its niche in the market, providing a number of services.