Peak XV raises $1.3B, doubles in AI as global VC race in India heats up.

Peak XV announced on Friday that it has raised $1.3 billion in all new funds focused on India and Asia. The company, which now manages assets of more than 10 billion dollars, is strengthening its focus on artificial intelligence and cross-border betting amid strong competition for deals in the region.

The capital will be deployed across its India seed capital and venture and its APAC vehicle. Most are planned for India, and the company expects to invest in the next two to three years, managing director Shailendra Singh said in an interview on Friday.

Peak XV parted ways with Sequoia Capital in 2023, in an attempt to diversify the India-focused parts of Sequoia’s portfolio. The firm now counts more than 450 portfolio companies across fintech, software, and consumer internet, spanning seed to growth stages.

The company’s new fundraising comes as New Delhi hosts the AI ​​Impact Summit, drawing major tech players including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. At the event, General Catalyst revealed plans to invest 5 billion rands in the country over the next five years, significantly increasing its previous commitment to the market.

Singh said Peak XV is not trying to match rivals dollar-for-dollar, stressing that the company’s priority is generating strong returns rather than growing assets under management. The company will continue to size its funds based on where it sees the best opportunity to deliver “effective capital,” he said.

He added that Peak XV is still building a reputation in the US and is choosing where to compete. “In the US market, we’re the underdog — and that’s good,” Singh said, adding that the company is focused on areas where its expertise in software, developer tools, and fintech give it an edge.

The latest fundraising follows a period of leadership changes at Peak XV, including the recent departure of senior partner Ashish Agrawal and investors Ishaan Mittal and Tejeshwi Sharma. Singh told TechCrunch that the company keeps valuable information from its leadership team, noting that five of its seven partners have been with Peak XV for more than a decade. Peak XV’s extensive team includes more than 30 full-time investors, and a dozen leading investments across its markets.

Peak XV has returned more than $7 billion to investors since its founding, Singh said, adding that 35 of its companies have gone public. He declined to elaborate on the company’s distribution since it split from Sequoia Capital. In September 2024, TechCrunch reported that the company brought back nearly $1.2 billion in annual revenue.

Prior to the current raise, Peak XV’s previous fund was valued at $2.85 billion in late 2021, before the firm split with Sequoia Capital. That figure was later reduced to about $2.4 billion as part of what Singh described as a more streamlined approach to cash management. The previous pool included Peak XV’s growth strategy for India, and Singh said the company doesn’t plan to raise a new growth fund until some of that dry powder is released.

Singh expects to spend the new capital mainly on AI, fintech, and consumer startups, while also seeing emerging opportunities in deep technology. The company has invested in more than 80 AI startups to date. He added that the US-India relationship is becoming increasingly important as many innovators in the region are building global markets.