Sequoia India's Surge accelerator announces third cohort

SEQUOIA India's accelerator programme Surge on Monday announced its third cohort of 15 early-stage startups from South-east Asia and India. The companies dabble in several areas including software development, education, food and beverage, consumer and health.

Companies from Singapore include networking and mentorship startup Tigerhall, which announced US$2 million in funds raised led by Surge. Other startups include advertising tech firm Pencil, backed by SG Innovate and Wavemaker; cybersecurity training firm Pentester Academy; and Global Founders Capital-backed Tinvio, which helps small and mid-sized merchants manage orders with their suppliers through a chat-led interface.

Another participant, Vietnamese startup BuyMed, on Monday announced a raise of US$2.5 million in funding to develop its pharma marketplace.

The third Surge programme, which kicked off on April 13, is the first to happen completely online.

Founders receive a US$1-2 million Surge funding round early on in the programme to start hiring and building their product right away. Other investors are encouraged to co-invest.

About 80 per cent of the third cohort's startups came onboard with institutional co-investors, and close to 50 per cent also have angel investors. Collectively, the cohort has raised over US$39 million in their Surge rounds.

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Surge startups have gone on to raise more than US$250 million after completing the programme.

This includes Telio from Vietnam, Zenyum from Singapore and Bobobox and Chilibeli from Indonesia. Co-investors through these rounds involved more than 35 institutional investors from nine different countries across Asean, China, East Asia, Europe, India and the US.

Since its launch in March 2019, Surge has grown into a community of more than 110 founders from 52 startups, spread across six countries.

Close to 25 per cent of all Surge applications to date have come from South-east Asia. Of these, 16 per cent are from Singapore and Indonesia. There has been a growing trend of applications from South-east Asian startups in the business-to-business, consumer tech and financial services space.