Sequoia India's Surge announces second cohort of startups for scaling

The founders of Surge 02 2019

In the nine short months since its launch in March 2019, Surge has grown into a community of more than 80 founders from 37 startups, spread across six countries. The programme combines $1 million to $2 million of capital for each startup with company-building workshops, global immersion trips, and support from a community of exceptional mentors and founders.

The Surge 02 2019 cohort includes 20 startups who are solving a wide range of problems across a diverse set of industry verticals, including Consumer Internet, EdTech, AgTech, Clean Energy, Social Commerce, Fintech, SaaS, Robotics, and DTC brands. Eight are from Southeast Asia.

Surge is an initiative by Sequoia India, which has backed over 250 startups in India and Southeast Asia, including Tokopedia, Gojek, Zilingo, One Championship, and Carousell.

Southeast Asia’s booming internet economy hit the $100 billion mark in 2019 and is poised to surpass the $300 billion mark by 2025, according to a recent 2019 study by Temasek, Google, and Bain. This will provide unprecedented momentum to the region’s ecosystem.

“Southeast Asia is at a tipping point. The rate of mobile internet adoption and growth of daily active users is now at a massive scale, and that opens up all kinds of possibilities for startup founders with new insights and innovative ideas. There are so many gaps and white spaces in every country in the region – across virtually every sector,” said Rajan Anandan, managing director, Surge at Sequoia Capital India. “For mission-driven founders who want to build something new, make a difference, and have a big impact on your economy – this is your time.”

Company-building, especially in the early stages, can be extremely challenging. It takes an insane amount of effort to build the first product, hire the first engineer, and land the first customer. Many early-stage founders in the region also feel they spend too much time fundraising, at the expense of building their business.

Surge is designed to give founders an unfair advantage from the start, helping founders clear these hurdles with access to the kind of capital, resources, mentors, and expert help they need to supercharge their startup.

Key features of the programme include:

● Capital: Founders receive a $1-2 million Surge round early on in the programme so they can start hiring and building their product right away.

● Community: Founders will be able to learn, grow, and share their journeys with fellow founders from diverse backgrounds and perspectives. They also work closely with coaches from Sequoia and respected founders such as Tokopedia’s William Tanuwijaya; Gojek’s Nadiem Makarim, One Championship’s Chatri Sityodtong, Carousell’s Quek Siu Rui, Zilingo’s Ankiti Bose, and other entrepreneurs in Sequoia’s portfolio who serve as Surge mentors.

● Company building support: Workshops and seminars follow the journey of company building, from foundational work on leadership, culture, hiring, and building a winning organisation, to design choices, product, and scale, and to marketing and brand positioning. Founders also receive advice and help on hiring. Surge’s 10xE programme helps connect founders with seasoned tech talent right from the start. One Surge 01 2019 startup, Telio from Vietnam, for example, hired 30 engineers with help from Surge’s tech and talent team.

● Cross-border experience: Week-long cross-border immersion trips to the world’s leading innovation hubs in Silicon Valley, China, Southeast Asia, and India give founders the chance to plug into the global startup ecosystem.

Surge has been designed with an "open architecture" in mind and encourages other investors to come in on the first Surge round. In fact, 80 per cent of Surge 02 2019 startups have co-investors in the Surge round. Founders also have the opportunity to present to a larger set of venture and strategic investors at the end of the programme.

Surge is a five-week programme that’s spread over a 16-week period and runs twice a year.

Surge is a rapid scale-up programme for startups in India and Southeast Asia. Surge combines $1-2 million of seed capital with company-building workshops, global immersion trips, and support from a community of exceptional mentors and founders. Their Goal is to supercharge your startup – and give you an unfair advantage, right out of the gate.

Sequoia helps daring founders build legendary companies, from idea to IPO and beyond. Sequoia India operates in Southeast Asia and India where they actively partner with founders from a wide range of companies, across categories, including BYJUs, Carousell, Druva, GO-JEK, OYO Rooms, Tokopedia, Truecaller, Zilingo, Zomato, and more.