Venture capital firm Accel has announced a $ 650 million fund to invest in Indian and Southeast Asian startups. Abhinav Chaturvedi, a partner at Accel, said that the fund would be used for next-generation e-commerce, SaaS platforms, consumer fintech, global B2B solutions, digital health and Web3 platforms. This is the seventh fund Accel has raised for the region and will bring up its total investment here to USD 2 billion. 

In a statement released to the public, the company stated, “The opportunity to build breakout, innovative companies in this region is enormous, and Accel is looking forward to expanding on current partnerships as well as building new ones. In India and Southeast Asia, we are the first institutional investor in over 85% of our investments, and 95% of our investments are Seed or Series A.” 

Commenting on the rise of Web 3-related startups, the statement said, “And, of course, there is no shortage of aspiring entrepreneurs focused on enterprise technology and Web 3. We see India gaining increasing share on the global stage in both areas.” 

Accel is known to back companies like Flipkart and Freshworks in the initial seed funding rounds. It has also invested in brands like Swiggy, UrbanCompany and BookMyShow.

Accel India selected 14 startups earlier this month under its Atoms program for pre-seed funding in startups.