The Billion-Dollar Combo: Accel & Prosus Fuel India’s Startup Ecosystem

Accel and Prosus have launched a strategic partnership to co-invest in India’s promising early-stage startups, especially those tackling large-scale systemic challenges. By pooling resources and expertise, they aim to accelerate innovation, providing founders with funding from $100,000 to $1 million and ensuring robust support for scaling breakthrough technologies.

In a landmark collaboration announced in October 2025, leading venture capital firms Accel and Prosus have joined forces to fund early-stage Indian startups from day zero. This co-investment strategy focuses on founders developing ‘leap tech’ solutions addressing deep-rooted economic and societal challenges across sectors such as automation, energy transition, internet services, and manufacturing.

This partnership marks Prosus’s first foray into formation-stage investing in India, enhancing Accel’s Atoms X program that supports startups with long development cycles needing patient capital. Both firms will match investments from $100,000 up to $1 million per company, potentially increasing over time. Importantly, the arrangement aims to reduce founder dilution while increasing confidence for future funding rounds.

Accel’s partner Pratik Agarwal emphasized that the collaboration responds to India’s unique needs for original business models that scale for a billion-plus population. Prosus’s Ashutosh Sharma highlighted that backing ambitious founders jointly makes resource utilization efficient and helps identify transformative companies akin to Swiggy, Meesho, or Tencent early on.

Already, both firms have co-invested in startups like AI-based tutoring platform Arivihan and low-cost internet provider Wiom, signalling a strong commitment to deep tech innovation driving India’s future economy.

Notable Updates:

Accel and Prosus co-investing from inception in early-stage Indian startups.
Investment tickets between $100K and $1M, prospect of scaling further.
Focus on large-scale systemic ‘leap tech’ solutions across multiple sectors.
Partnership improves funding certainty and reduces founder dilution risks.
Joint portfolio includes AI tutoring and affordable internet ventures.
Co-investment fosters ecosystem confidence for complex, capital-intensive innovation.

Sources: TechCrunch, Economic Times, Business Standard, Moneycontrol

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