Sequoia Capital Introduces Second Cohort For Its Surge 02

Sequoia Capital Introduces Second Cohort For Its Accelerator Programme Surge

SUMMARY

Surge 02 started in September 2019

Each startup will get an investment of between $1 Mn to $2 Mn

Surge 2.0 also allowed participation from pre-launched startups

Venture Capital firm Sequoia Capital India, on Tuesday, has finally announced the second cohort of its accelerator programme Surge 02, which started off on September 23, 2019, to help early-stage startups in India and south-East Asia.

Surge Programme, which was started off in January 2019, already has over 80 founders and 37 startups, spread across six countries and 10 verticals, on board. The programme focuses on industry sectors such as consumer internet, media, enterprise software, or healthcare to fintech and directs to consumer brands.

It is a 16-week programme that facilitates startups with company-building and cross-border support. In addition, it also provides a capital investment of $1 to $2 Mn from the VC firms and other coinvestors.

For the second edition of the Surge Programme, Sequoia has also allowed pre-launched startups to participate. Out of the 20 finalists, six startups are yet to be launched. Indian startups in the Surge 02 cohort includes:

Airalo
Founders: Bahadir Ozdemir and Duran Akcaylier
Founded: March 2019
Airalo the world’s first eSIM store that provides travellers with connectivity and freedom through access to over 100 eSIMs from around the world at local rates.

Bijak
Founders: Daya Rai, Jitender Bedwal, Mahesh Jakhotia, Nukul Upadhye and Nikhil Tripathi
Founded: May 2019
Bijak is a B2B agritech trade platform that allows traders, wholesalers and food processors to keep a track of transactions, access pricing and logistics, and improve working capital cycles.

Brick&Bolt
Founders: Arpit Rajpurohit and Jayesh Rajpurohit
Founded: January 2018
Brick&Bolt is an ecommerce platform that makes home and commercial constructions simple and transparent.

Classplus
Founders: Bhaswat Agarwal and Mukul Rustagi
Founded: January 2018
Classplus is a mobile operating system (OS) that transforms brick-and-mortar coaching institutes into a digital setup.

Freewill
Founders: Mohit Yadav and Rahul Yadav
Founded: August 2018
Freewill is a beauty company that creates personalised hair products based on the customers’ requirements, lifestyle habits and environmental conditions

Hevo Data
Founders: Manish Jethani and Sourabh Agarwal
Founded: August 2017
Hevo Data is an “automated unified data platform” that allows companies to understand their customers better.

InVideo
Founders: Harsh Vakharia, Pankit Chheda and Sanket Shah
Founded: March 2019
InVideo is a video creation platform that allows users to create “professional-quality” videos in aquick and simple manner.

Juno
Founders: Ratnesh Ray, Siddharth Verma and Varun Deshpande
Founded: Pre-launch

Juno is a neo-bank that plans to create high yielding accounts to help customers grow their savings.

Klub
Founders: Anurakt Jain, Ishita Verma
Founded: August 2019
Klub is a fintech startup that finances high-affinity brands. Klub’s investment platform utilizes financial innovation, community engagement and deep data-driven analytics to provide growth capital.

Log9 Materials
Founders: Akshay Singhal, Kartik Hajela and Pankaj Sharma
Founded: April 2015
Log9Materials develops nanotechnology driven products that can be used in B2B and B2C sectors. The company has recently launched its new venture Log 9 Spills, which is not part of the Surge.

Quolum
Founders: Indus Khaitan
Founded: Pre-launch
Quolum is a SaaS product that allows users to set up applications to manage risk and compliance for enterprises.

Rheo TV
Founders: Prakash Kumar and Saksham Keshri
Founded: August 2019
Rheo TV is a game streaming platform that allows users to make mainstream gaming into a mainstream career option in India.

Trell
Founders:Arun Lodhi, Bimal Kartheek Rebba, Prashant Sachan and Pulkit Agarwal
Founded: August 2017
Trell is a lifestyle-community platform that allows users to share “relateble” videos and blogs for the Indian audience.

Other startups in the Surge 02 cohort includes Storie, Indonesia-based Rukita, Malaysia-based PerroMart, Singapore-based Cognicept, Singapore-based Yours and Indonesia-based Chilibeli.