Accel India’s founding partners, Prashanth Prakash and Subrata Mitra, are planning for a smooth transition.  The duo has led over 50 investments, including the successful Flipkart exit.  Junior par...

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- Accel India’s founding partners, Prashanth Prakash and Subrata Mitra, are planning for a smooth transition.
- The duo has led over 50 investments, including the successful Flipkart exit.
- Junior partners are increasingly taking on more responsibilities.
- Accel is reportedly raising its largest India-focused fund yet.
- The firm continues to invest in successful startups like Swiggy and UrbanClap. 

 Source: [The Captable](https://the-captable.com/2024/09/vc-accel-india-succession/)

Is Accel India Ready for a Leadership Transition?

Journalist

Is Accel India Ready for a Leadership Transition?- Grapevine

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In a landmark deal, Silicon Valley powerhouse General Catalyst has acquired Venture Highway, a seed-stage investment firm with a track record of backing winners like Meesho and Mobile Premier League.

The Deal:
- Rare instance of consolidation in the Indian VC market
- VH to be rebranded as General Catalyst India
- GC plans to invest $500 million to $1 billion in India over the next three years
- Acquisition driven by desire to build strong local team and tap into local LP network

But the move also raises important questions. Will this trigger a wave of consolidation in the Indian VC market? Will other global firms follow suit and snap up local players to gain a foothold in the country? And how will this influx of foreign capital shape the trajectory of India's startup ecosystem?

As the dust settles on this landmark deal, one thing is clear: India's startup scene is entering a new era, one where local innovation and global capital are increasingly intertwined.  Always long on India 🇮🇳

Image Credits: The Arc

General Catalyst's Venture Highway Acquisition: A Strategic Play for India 🇮🇳

- Accel gearing up for eighth India fund, aiming for $600-700M by end of 2024
- First major VC fundraise after 2022's funding winter, signaling potential market thaw
- Firm's stable team and strong track record expected to attract significant LP interest
- Accel known for early bets on Flipkart and Freshworks, seeks to maintain early-stage edge
- Company culture praised for alignment and handling of failures, but some sector gaps noted 

 Source: [The Arc](https://thearcweb.com/article/accel-india-fund-flipkart-freshworks-venture-capital-1lhpqpT5OmDbBxTs)

Accel Targets $700M India Fund, Largest Yet Amid VC Landscape Shifts

A friend of mine is being courted by both Lightspeed and accel. He likes them both but wanted to get some founder takes on this.. at Accel it's a jr partner, at Lightspeed it's one of the well known partner.

Which VC firm?

Product Owner

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After sequoia rebranding, funds leaving the country, hearing that accel is looking to cut down on India investment corpus. Big news for a top global fund to step back.

Accel India cutting down investments?

VC Analyst

I will go first: 
Supam Maheswari, 3 unicorns, 2 of them are profitable (FirstCry, Xpressbees) (Globalbees)

Kishore Biyani, founder BigBazaar

Who are the people in Indian Startup space you greatly regard to?

Software Developer

Heard from a little bird that General Catalyst's deal of acquiring VH has fallen through? Can someone confirm?

Also what do you think of VH in general? I feel expensive bets with low single digit stakes. Personally, the folks especially Associates are way way too cocky and only believe in Faff

GC not acquiring Venture Highway

Venture Capital

Hello guys,
I would want to know what is the benefit of getting ESOPs in an early stage startup?
The startup has a great team and working on a promising product. 
I have been offered a package with somewhat lower fixed component and somewhat higher ESOPs. Need insightful pointers here. TIA :)

Value of ESOPs in early stage startups?

The ESOP is a bit of a blind bet.  
  
 It's paper money that can get you a windfall if all goes to plan and execution, solution, pricing, market readiness amongst other things, all line up over the next few years.  
  
 I wouldn't take a pay cut in lieu of ESOPs.  Keep the real money real and the paper money as an outside bet.

Sales Manager

Product Manager

This is super interesting. They had a small footprint in India so far, but the move indicates another big gun coming into India in a serious way. 
After many VC exits and shutdowns, this one is a breath of fresh air. 

By any chance does anyone know which fund it is?

General Catalyst, one of the largest U.S. venture capital firms, is in talks to acquire an India-focused VC as part of efforts to expand its presence in General Catalyst, one of the largest U.S. venture capital firms, is in talks to acquire an India-focused venture fund, sources told TechCrunch.

General Catalyst eyes VC deal in India push | TechCrunch

General Catalyst looking to acquire an Indian VC and invest more in India!

Investment Associate

India is one of the growing ecosystem, why Indian vc accel atom program and even sequoia surgehead won't able to make buzz like YC.
Why are not active too much..
Does anyone know any active accelerator program like YC in india.

Why accel atom, surgehead are not able to buzz in startup ecosystem

After PeakXV, Matrix now changing to Z47 in India

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Who dis the best individual VC partners in India and which firms are the best in class? How is it working with (or for) them? Any insider dirt much appreciated!!

Best VC partners and investment firms in India?

Starting an India centric podcast focused on venture capital. Personally based in SF but keep hearing a lot of chatter about India VCs here so interested to unpack it. Who are the top firms and investment partners in the market?

Top VCs in India?

I am seeing a lot of layoff related posts everywhere from news articles to LinkedIn.. Is the Job market really that bad now? Or just the media is projecting that way? 

If it's really bad, which department you think is the most affected? How's layoffs specifically in India? Or is it layoffs in US but more hiring in India due to cost cutting? 

Are layoffs in technology/engineering dept as in for developers or some other departments? Your thoughts please..

Job Market right now in India?

It is really bad right now 
 1. Layoffs in many of the companies, irrespective of whether they're a startup or a big MnC. 
 2. Almost everyone I know of wants to switch, because of no/less appraisals from last 2 years 
 3. Bad work life balance - people thinks switching might help 
 4. Too much competition for any open position. Because of too much supply, companies are low-balling and people would accept the offer.  
  
 Recruiters ghosting is too common. Even if you've killed in your interviews and recruiters get someone who's ready to join on less pay, they'll simply ghost you.

Software Engineer

Is it a choice or a force? 

I somewhere heard PocketFM leadership was forced to exit. Is this accurate? I am curious, why so many leadership exit in start ups(Upstox, Swiggy, Zomato, PocketFm etc). Good leaders are made to exit and bad to worse leaders are continuing eg: Cars24, TimelyAi, Dukaan, Apana, Slice etc

Top level executives exit?

Lawyer

Let's examine a snapshot of the Swiggy Engineering VPs' status from three months ago and compare it to their current situation.

CTO Dale departed just yesterday.
Storefront - Madhu has been promoted to the role of CTO, and we are awaiting the appointment of a new VP.
ATS - Ashish is currently serving his notice period.
MFP - Piyush has left the company, and Soumya has taken on additional responsibilities.
RNG - Nitesh is currently interviewing with other firms.
DIP - Soumya is still performing well in their role.
DevOps - Anurodh is in charge.
Location Intelligence - Pradnya is currently serving her notice period.

One potential reason for their departure is the recent devaluation, which has resulted in an unofficial 50% reduction in the value of the ESOPs. Given the minimal salary increases, unless prompt action is taken by the remaining leadership, this ship will inevitably sink!

PS The engineers at Swiggy are aware of the alternative interpretation of SOS.

Swiggy SOS

yaar pehli baat to ye ki don't assume that everyone knows the meaning of those god damned  abbreviations ....

Data Scientist

Go ahead, ask if we pushed founders to commit fraud.

AMA: Worked at tier 2 VC - got in post a few years of workex and a tier 2 Indian uni

What stops you from *stealing* an idea that you found mind-blowing from a pitch of a startup trying to get a seed funding?

Founder

Too many instances of global funds entering India. This will be interesting. The big existing ones (Peak, LSIP, Accel, Elevation) will be forced to deploy because the new ones will  have a lot more appetite. 

General Catalyst investing in Zepto for example. Entering with a bang.
Glade Brook, GC, and rumours of the two biggest ones in the US - one that used to exist earlier here.

Interesting times ahead for founders and invest.

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