MUMBAI (Reuters) – Sequoia Capital has raised $2.85 billion to fund new businesses in India and Southeast Asia, the venture capital firm said on Tuesday. This is in spite of the fact that investors aren’t putting money into new businesses in the region right now.
This is Sequoia’s biggest fundraising effort for India and Southeast Asia so far.
The Silicon Valley company said in a statement that $850 million came from Sequoia’s first fund for Southeast Asia. From an India fund since 2015, Sequoia has been putting money into Southeast Asian startups.
The last $2 billion came from Indian venture capital and growth funds.
According to data from Venture Intelligence, Sequoia India, the Indian branch of the company, has invested more than $8 billion in India and Southeast Asia over the past 15 years. This includes the money that was just raised. The last money Sequoia India raised for the area was $1.35 billion in 2020.
“This fundraiser shows our deep commitment to the region at a time when markets are starting to cool down after a very long bull run,” Sequoia said.
Since Indian startups raised a record $35 billion last year, they are getting less money. A global tech rout has made it hard for companies to raise money, and some have had to let people go.
Sequoia’s successful investments in the region include the hotelier Oyo, the public food delivery company Zomato, and two companies that have merged: the ride-hailing app Gojek and the e-commerce company Tokopedia. The combined business, GoTo, is the biggest publicly traded company in Indonesia.
