Group update

• A global partnership combining early conviction and long-term capital to back bold ideas by Indian founders building at the frontier

Prosus, the power behind the world’s leading lifestyle ecommerce brands, has partnered with Accel, a leading global venture firm, to expand Atoms X — Accel’s early-stage founder programme — with a focused mandate on LeapTech companies. Through this global alliance, Prosus and Accel will co-invest in bold founders building frontier companies from Day Zero. Prosus will match Accel’s investment in each company, creating a seamless path of support from seed to scale.

The partnership is a global first for Prosus anchored by Accel to institutionalise support for a category of founders that has long been underserved. Accel brings its founder-first discipline — known for spotting and nurturing India’s most important startups from their earliest days, while Prosus, with its long-term commitment to India, brings patient capital and global reach. Together, they complement each other perfectly: early conviction meets global scale.

LeapTech, as deeply believed at Accel, goes beyond deeptech. It represents innovation that accelerates the pace and breadth of progress, combining engineering ambition and scientific breakthroughs that work at India’s scale to change lives for the better. This spirit is central to India’s growth story over the next decade. Whether it’s Jio, UPI, or the rise of quick commerce, LeapTech innovation has shown what’s possible when unique technology meets Indian-scale execution.

“This is Prosus’s first collaboration of its kind globally. Accel is a natural partner to join hands with. We see extraordinary potential in LeapTech founders building from science and engineering first principles to solve global problems,” said Ashutosh Sharma, Head of India Ecosystem, Prosus.

“This is not merely two prominent funds co-investing in a deal; it is a pivotal step in expanding the LeapTech ecosystem through our Atoms X programme,” said Pratik Agarwal, Partner at Accel. “We’re seeing an unprecedented convergence of deep technology and entrepreneurship in India and globally — founders who are not just iterating, but inventing. Together, Accel and Prosus will help them scale faster with the right capital, mentorship, and conviction.”

As a young country, India cannot achieve its aspirations without LeapTech — the fusion of affordability and excellence across sectors such as advanced manufacturing, energy transition, and AI-driven automation. India’s heritage has long included moments of “affordable excellence”: products and technologies that deliver world-class quality at an accessible scale.

With Accel’s deep involvement at inception and Prosus’s strength to scale bold ideas into global companies, the partnership builds on a long-standing relationship. Across multiple investments – spanning across various stages — Accel has been Prosus’s largest and most consistent partner in India. The two firms share a high-trust operating rhythm and a belief that the boldest founders deserve the boldest support.

Globally, startups in this segment attracted over $80 billion in venture funding in 2024, with India contributing around 6–8 percent of deal volume, according to PitchBook and Bain data. The Accel–Prosus alliance is expected to significantly boost this category in the years ahead.

About Accel

Accel is a global venture capital firm that is the first partner to exceptional teams everywhere, from inception through all phases of private company growth. Atlassian, Bumble, CrowdStrike, Fiverr, Flipkart, Freshworks, Qualtrics, Scale, Segment, Slack, Spotify, Squarespace, Tenable, and UiPath are among the companies Accel has backed over the past 40+ years. We help ambitious entrepreneurs build iconic global businesses. For more, visit www.accel.com