The larger checks reflect a tougher path from seed funding to Series A, according to Peak XV managing director Rajan Anandan.
“The bar to raise a Series A has gone up pretty significantly,” Anandan said in an interview. He added that Peak XV is also backing more capital-intensive businesses, particularly in deeptech, where startups can require larger amounts of funding even at the seed stage.
Surge 12 also shows how the program has expanded beyond its original focus on India and Southeast Asia. More than half of the companies in the cohort are based in India, but only five of the 18 are primarily focused on the Indian market. The other 13 are targeting customers globally.
The companies themselves range from AI infrastructure and safety tools to autonomous robots and satellite systems.
Alma, founded by Nischith Shadagopan M N and Vinod Ganesan, is developing a personal computing platform intended to make computer use faster and more affordable. Both founders previously worked at Microsoft Research and later became founding engineers at Sarvam AI.
August AI, founded by Anuruddh Mishra, combines artificial intelligence with physician-led healthcare and says its platform reaches more than 9 million users across 160 countries.
Ditto is taking AI into dating. Founded by UC Berkeley dropouts Allen Wang and Eric Liu, the startup operates as an AI matchmaker inside iMessage and focuses on helping college students move from digital introductions to in-person dates. The company had already raised $9.2 million in a Peak XV-led seed round before joining the cohort.
HiLoop is building a post-training platform that helps AI companies adapt general-purpose open-weight models for specific uses, while Reinforce Labs is developing technology for evaluating, red-teaming and improving enterprise AI systems.
Other companies are applying AI to hiring, finance, insurance and communications. Kello is building a talent-discovery platform designed to assess candidates based on potential and career trajectory rather than conventional credentials. Kindling is developing an AI-based system for helping technology startups create communications and content. Tribe Money is working on an AI personal-finance platform, while Rosella is building an AI-native commercial insurance brokerage for U.S. businesses.
The cohort extends well beyond software. Puralink is developing autonomous robots capable of traveling through underground pipe networks, while ULOOK is building autonomous satellites for radio-frequency sensing and spectrum intelligence. ULOOK had raised about $2.3 million from growX Ventures and InfoEdge Ventures before joining Surge.
Peak XV is also backing Riffle, a browser-based platform for musicians to create and collaborate; Hoola Health, which brings several pediatric and family healthcare services onto one platform; GameStock, which introduces competitive mechanics into investing and trading; and Wingit, a beauty platform focused on India's premium consumer market.
Three additional companies in Surge 12 have not publicly disclosed their names or products. Peak XV said they are working in education, applied AI and medical products.
Some members of the cohort had already attracted outside capital before entering Surge. At least three had previously raised funding, including from Peak XV in some cases, illustrating that the program is not limited to companies taking their first institutional checks.
Surge has backed more than 180 startups since its launch in 2019, when Peak XV still operated as Sequoia Capital India and Southeast Asia. The firm says the 10 largest companies to come through the program now generate more than $1 billion in combined annual revenue.
Anandan described Surge as Peak XV's main channel for seed-stage investing, with the firm able to continue investing as portfolio companies move into later funding rounds. The program typically attracts a mix of repeat founders, experienced technology operators and specialized technical founders.
With Surge 12, Peak XV is increasing both the amount of capital available to individual startups and the geographic reach of the program. The result is a cohort largely built in India but increasingly aimed at customers well beyond it.
This analysis is based on reporting from the tech buzz.
Image courtesy of Peak XV Partners.
This article was generated with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy and quality.
