Sequoia launches seed investment program in Southeast Asia, India

Sequoia India has launched a new startup accelerator program called Surge that will invest US$1.5 million into each startup.

The program is open to startups that are from Southeast Asia and India or are building for those markets.

Applications are open until February 22, and the initiative will commence in March. The program lasts 16 weeks. Each Surge wave will have 10 to 20 startups.

Mentors will consist of founders in the Sequoia portfolio, such as Ankiti Bose of Zilingo and William Tanuwijaya of Tokopedia.

The funding size for Surge is larger than typical accelerator programs like Y Combinator. The company explains that this would allow founders to focus on building their products without the constant worry of fundraising.

Another difference is that while accelerator programs typically end in a demo day where startups present to investors in rapid-fire succession, Surge will have what it calls an UpSurge. It’s basically a whole week of networking mixers and one-on-one meetings with investors.

UpSurge is “specifically designed to remove the stress of a demo day and give founders adequate time to explain their business model to investors,” a Sequoia India spokesperson explains.

Other accelerators in Southeast Asia include Entrepreneur First and Antler. There’s a number of seed stage funds too, including East Ventures, Seed Plus, and 500 Startups.

The launch of Surge puts to rest the notion of a seed funding drought in Singapore and beyond. It provides another option for early stage startups – and an attractive one at that.

Update on Jan 24, 3.30pm: Clarified that Surge does not do demo days, but investor weeks.