Accel closes $60M India fund

Silicon Valley venture firm Accel has successfully established a beachhead in India, completing an expected $60 million close for a fund called Accel India that will invest in seed and early-stage startups in the country.

The effort is most notable because many Silicon Valley firms stick to growth investments in successful Indian companies — a fairly safe bet, given the high growth rate of the country’s economy. According to Accel, seed and early stage investing represents less than 5 percent of the venture capital that goes into India.

Accel “started” the fund by taking over a firm called Erasmic Venture Fund and began its raise back in July, when we first wrote about the effort. Erasmic also brought in 12 portfolio companies. Four partners will be in charge of the renamed fund: Mahendran Balachandran, Gagan Kumar, Subrata Mitra and Prashanth Prakash.