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

Peak XV announced on Friday that it has raised $1.3 billion in new investments in India and Asia. The company, which now manages more than $10 billion in assets, is expanding its focus on artificial intelligence and betting on frontiers as competition heats up for businesses in the region.

The capital will be allocated to India for all plant and labor costs as well as its APAC vehicle. Most have been invested in India, where the company expects to invest in the next two to three years, managing director Shailendra Singh said in an interview on Friday.

Price XV it was distributed from Sequoia Capital in 2023in an attempt to separate the Indian parts of Sequoia. The company now counts more than 450 companies across fintech, software, and consumer internet, from seed to growth.

The company’s new investment comes as New Delhi does AI Impact Summitdrawing major technology players including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. On this occasion, General Catalyst announced plans to invest $5 billion in the country over the next five years, greatly increasing its initial commitment to the market.

Singh said that Peak XV is not trying to match its competitors on the dollar, stressing that the company’s priority is to generate higher profits rather than growing the assets under management. The company will continue to grow its investments based on where it sees good opportunities to provide “high-quality investment,” he said.

He added that Peak XV is still building its presence in the US and will decide where it competes. “In the US market, we are underserved – and that’s good,” Singh said, adding that the company is focusing on areas where its software, hardware and fintech capabilities give it an opportunity.

The latest investment follows a period of leadership change at Peak XV, including recent departures of senior partner Ashish Agrawal and investors Ishaan Mittal and Tejeshwi Sharma. Singh told TechCrunch that the company retains significant experience in its leadership team, noting that five of the seven directors have been with Peak XV for more than a decade. Peak XV’s core team includes more than 30 investors, with twelve leading funds in its markets.

Peak XV has returned more than $7 billion to investors since its inception, Singh said, adding that 35 of his companies have gone public. He declined to name shares since the company split from Sequoia Capital. In September 2024, TechCrunch reported that the company did they returned about $1.2 billion in the year.

Prior to this upgrade, the old Peak XV bag was growth of $2.85 billion at the end of 2021, before the company split into Sequoia Capital. That figure was later reduced to about $2.4 billion as part of what Singh described as a cost-cutting measure. The initial pool included India’s Peak XV development plan, and Singh said the company does not plan to raise a new development fund until the dry powder is frozen.

Singh hopes to invest the new capital mainly in AI, fintech, and consumer startups, while also looking at emerging opportunities in deep technology. The company has made over 80 investments in AI startups to date. He added that US-India relations are becoming more important as many startups in the region are building global markets.