$350 million for our next India fund

We believe that innovation is a borderless endeavor, and as a globally integrated firm we back great founders wherever they are building. Bessemer opened its doors in Bangalore nearly two decades ago to be at the epicenter of innovation taking shape in India. Our enthusiasm has only grown stronger with time, and today, we are announcing our second dedicated India fund with $350 million of capital to support founders in the region at the earliest stages and beyond.

With our second fund, we will continue backing early-stage founders building across AI-enabled services and SaaS, fintech, digital health, consumer brands and cybersecurity. Partners Vishal Gupta and Anant Vidur Puri and their team are at the helm of this investment strategy and continue to discover and invest in India’s most promising entrepreneurs.

We pride ourselves in being patient, long-term partners for our portfolio leaders. In the last five years, more than 80% of our investments in India have been Series A or earlier — companies we’ve continued to support as they navigate each phase of growth. Today, several of our companies have scaled to exceed $1 billion valuations, like BigBasket, Urban Company, Perfios and Livspace — and we’ve proudly seen nine of our portfolio companies IPO.

There is a transformative opportunity underway in the country’s startup ecosystem driven by a growing young, affluent, and digitally savvy middle class; the proliferation of digital technology rails; and the emergence of the fifth largest country by GDP that is bolstered by domestic investment. These secular and macro trends have put India on track to be a trillion dollar digital economy, and have fueled a burgeoning digital SaaS market of founders building software for Indian and global markets. It is an exciting and unique time for entrepreneurship in India, and we’re eager to partner with the most talented founders applying AI advancements and technical innovation to India’s services economy, India-specific market needs within fintech and insurance, as well as cybersecurity, and consumer brands.

Generational paradigm shifts in technology continue to influence Bessemer’s roadmap-driven investing approach. Our roadmap research — our process to developing core investment theses — positions us ahead of the curve when it comes to emerging trends and discovering companies that have gone on to become category leaders, and enables us to better help founders navigate evolving industry landscapes. We’ve been at the forefront of several of India’s tech era shifts that fundamentally impacted consumer behavior and enterprise operations, and through our roadmapping process, we’ve had the conviction to invest early in shifts in the market like the onset of the mobile revolution (Swiggy, Urban Company), India’s digital infrastructure (IEX, Lentra) and healthcare revolution (Medi Assist, Nephroplus).

Our approach to-date has led us to investing in more than 80 startups in India, including investments from our first India fund, such as Boldfit, MoveInSync, Pepper Content, Shopdeck, Vetic, Zopper, and more.

We’re incredibly fortunate to have partnered with audacious entrepreneurs and accompanied them on their journey from the seedling of an idea to building enduring companies, and we are thrilled by the vast opportunities ahead for current and future founders building in India.

Forge ahead.