Sequoia Capital India’s Surge has launched its fourth cohort of 17 startups that have collectively raised $45.35 million both from the scale-up programme as well as other co-investors.
This is the largest combined fundraising by startups since the programme started, Surge said in a statement.
Surge 04 startups are headquartered in India, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia and, for the first time, in Australia.
Half of the latest batch are software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies, while the overall portfolio represents sectors such as edrech, fintech, SME tech, devtools, consumer, health tech and B2B marketplaces.
Among the startups, 11 companies are building for cross-border markets, while some are also disrupting traditionally offline industries like logistics, automotive and insurance.
Similar to the third batch, Surge 04 will run entirely online through to March 2021.
Surge, which was initiated last year as an accelerator for early-stage startups across South and Southeast Asia, typically provides $1-2 million seed capital early on in the programme. Surge’s last three cohorts have nurtured more than 50 startups.
Here is the list of Surge 04 cohort:
1. Aampe, set up in July 2020, is a Singapore-based customer engagement startup founded by Paul Meinshausen, Sami Abboud, Schaun Wheeler and a female co-founder (who is currently in stealth).
2. Epsilo, set up in January 2019, is an e-commerce SaaS startup based out of Vietnam and Singapore.
3. Hashnode, set up in June 2020, is an Indian blogging platform. Angel investors joined Surge in the seed round.
4. Kyt, set up in June 2020, is an online-first academy focused on extracurricular learning for children, with dual headquarters in India and Singapore. Angels joined Surge as co-investors.
5. LambdaTest, set up in 2017, is a testing infrastructure company. Co-investors with Surge include Blume Ventures, Entrée Capital, Leo Capital and angels.
6. Let’s Dive, set up in August 2020, is a SaaS platform providing a social space for remote teams. Co-investors include Village Global and angels.
7. mod.io, set up in 2017, is a Melbourne-based service that helps game developers launch in-game, platform-agnostic user-generated content communities. Co-investors include Makers Fund, Play Ventures and angels.
8. Otoklix, set up in August 2019, is an Indonesian startup providing online to offline solutions for car services. Co-investors include GK Plug and Play, Kenangan Investment Fund 1, Lentor Ventures, Noble Star Ventures and angels.
9. PagarBook, set up in December 2019, is a mobile-first payroll and workforce management app in India. Angels joined the funding round.
10. Plum, set up in November 2019, is an employee insurance provider for India’s small businesses and middle class. Other investors are Tanglin Venture Partners and angels.
11. Richpanel, set up in January 2019, is an Indian customer service platform for e-commerce merchants.
12. Shipsy, set up in 2015, is an enterprise SaaS company in India that helps customers manage end-to-end logistics across multiple modes. Info Edge is a co-investor with Surge.
13. Studyroom, set up in September 2020, is an Indian edtech platform. Co-investors include Graph Ventures and angels.
14. Tazapay, set up in April 2020, is a Singapore cloud-based trade management platform for SMEs to conduct cross-border commerce. Saison Capital co-invested with Surge.
15. Three stealth-mode startups.
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