Accel Partners raises its largest India fund at $450 million
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early investor Accel Partners has raised its fifth India-focussed fund with a corpus of $450 million taking its assets under management in the world's fastest growing economy to slightly over $1 billion. TOI was the first to report the planned fund raise in its May 2 edition. One of the most prominent Silicon Valley venture funds famed for its investment in social networking
site Facebook back in 2005, this will be Accel's largest fund for India. It now joins a select group of early-stage investors like Sequoia Capital and Nexus Venture Partners to manage billion-dollars or more in assets here in India. The new fund has been launched less than two years after the VC firm officially announced Accel IV in March 2015.
While Accel prepares to start investing from the newly raised capital, things have changed dramatically for the local startup ecosystem which has slowed down in the past one year with large consumer internet companies not being able to rack up funds at their existing valuation and investors turning cautious because of lack of exits. But that hasn't stopped VCs from raising fresh dry powder; six firms have collectively mopped up more than $2.5 billion in the past year to be ploughed into Indian startups, the notable ones being Sequoia Capital's $920 million Fund V and Nexus Venture Partners' $450 million fund. [ Times Of India ]
Many Boom-Time Startups Are Fizzling Out
As venture capital deals decline from their peak last year, more young companies are left without options.Declines in the venture capital market are hitting startups of all sizes, but the ones left particularly vulnerable are the thousands of young companies that raised seed funding during headier times just a year or two ago. The seed frenzy peaked in the first quarter of 2015 when more than 1,500 startups raised their first rounds of capital, according to research firm PitchBook Data. Many of those companies are now running out of cash, and most won’t be able to get more. [ Bloomberg ]
Jungle Ventures raises $100m fund for Southeast Asia and beyond
Singapore-based venture capital firm Jungle Ventures announced today it has completed fundraising for its second fund, achieving its target of US$100 million. That’s ten times larger than Jungle’s previous US$10 million fund, which closed in 2012. It had raised around US$65 million in September 2015. Jungle Ventures founding partner Amit Anand tells Tech in Asia part of the new fund has already been deployed, in investments like Thailand’s Pomelo, Singapore’s Tradegecko, and Indonesia’s FinAccel. [ Tech In Asia ]
Devialet raises $106 million to expand international rollout of its connected Phantom speakers
Paris-based Devialet announced today it has raised $106 million in venture capital as the company seeks to capitalize on strong reviews of its connected Phantom speakers. A renowned name among high-end audiophiles for years, Devialet unveiled the $2,000 Phantom speaker in 2015 to carve a new niche for itself with sophisticated consumers. Over the past year, the company has been courting tech influencers and celebrities while starting to open a series of retail stores where customers could experience the power of the Phantoms. [ Venture Beat ]