Venture capital firm Bessemer raises $350 million for second India fund

By Ashwin Manikandan and Haripriya Suresh

(Reuters) - Bessemer Venture Partners, an early backer of Swiggy, has raised $350 million for an India-focused fund to invest in AI-enabled businesses, fintechs and direct-to-consumer brands among others, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

The United States-based venture capital firm said it will allocate this fund from mid-2025 to continue making fresh bets in young Indian businesses. The firm's 80% of investments in the country over the last five years have been in early-stage startups.

Bessemer Venture had raised $220 million in 2021 for its first India fund, which invested in startups such as Boldfit, Pepper Content, Shopdeck, and Zopper.

Vishal Gupta, a partner at Bessemer Venture, said that the focus is on “identifying and investing in founders who are driving innovation, solving complex challenges, and building market-defining companies.”

Bessemer Venture, which set up its India office in Bengaluru nearly two decades ago, has a portfolio of over 80 companies in the country including Swiggy, Ola, BigBasket and Perfios.

Globally it manages assets worth $18 billion which includes stakes in companies such as Pinterest, Shopify and LinkedIn.

The announcement comes on the heels of Accel announcing its eighth India fund of $650 million earlier this year, and Stellaris Venture Partners closing a $300 million fund late last year.

The overall fund-raising activity by startups in India was subdued in 2024, reflecting limited availability of capital and risk averse approach among investors.

Total fund-raising fell to $2.7 billion last year from $4 billion in 2023, and cases where firms raised more than $100 million have also dropped, squeezing the average ticket size of venture capital bets as well, according to a report by Bain and IVCA.

(Reporting by Ashwin Manikandan in New Delhi and Haripriya Suresh in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng)