Peak XV, the largest venture capital firm in India and Southeast Asia, has unveiled the ninth cohort of Surge, its rapid scale up program for early-stage startups, featuring 32 inspiring founders across 13 companies.
More than 75% of the startups in this cohort are focused on AI and deep tech, and are building for global markets. This is also the first time the program is welcoming two Australian startups, Mercu and Relevance AI, marking Peak XV's foray into greater Asia-Pacific expansion.
Surge 09 is the first cohort since Peak XV's rebrand from Sequoia India & Southeast Asia.
Overall, the Surge program is designed to help founders scale up their businesses, and provides them access to the tools, deep expertise and experience from Peak XV's network of company builders and exceptional mentors.
Recognising the calibre of the entrepreneurial community in Australia, Surge's mission is to help early-stage startups build international, enduring businesses with the potential to transform the industries they operate in.
Surge 09 is a forward-thinking cohort comprising diverse companies from India and Singapore, in addition to Australia. The Australia companies represent the nation's strides in the emerging technologies market, which has been building momentum in Artificial Intelligence (AI), deep tech and the digital economy.
Relevance AI is a machine learning startup on a mission to help companies build an AI workforce that automates workflows with no code. Founders Daniel Vassilev and Jacky Koh identified an opportunity to help developer teams deploy and integrate AI across business functions, attracting big name clients across all sectors including SaaS, e-commerce, education and gaming, according to a statement from the company.
Employee engagement platform Mercu is dedicated to empowering at least 70% of the global workforce that are deskless workers. Australian founders Elliott Gibb and Jascha Zittel who are based in Singapore, focused on enabling companies to hire, train and engage with their frontline teams, leveraging existing chat apps to connect, onboard and upskill employees across the world.
Rajan Anandan, Managing Director, Peak XV Partners and Surge, says, "As we kick start new company-building journeys with our Surge 09 founders, it is clear that we are witnessing the incredible growth of AI and deep tech innovation, as well as the abundant talent in these sectors emerging from APAC."
"We are thrilled to be at the frontlines of innovation alongside our ambitious founders, who are leveraging their expertise to chart new ground in exciting, emerging technologies."
Surge's curated community of startups now includes nine cohorts, 330+ founders and 140+ startups across 16+ sectors in less than five years. To date, Surge startups have collectively raised over $2 billion in follow-on funding post Surge.
Surge 09 started last week and the founders are going through a 16-week hybrid program focused on company building. As with every cohort, the agenda features top mentors that share their personal experiences and advice and are passionate about giving back to the founder community.
Past Surge speakers and mentors have included William Tanuwijaya (Tokopedia/GoTo), Siu Rui Quek (Carousell), Patrick Collison (Stripe), Nitin Kamath (Zerodha), Kunal Shah (CRED), Gaurav Munjal (Unacademy), Sanjeev Bikhchandani (Info Edge), Amrish Rau (Pinelabs), Chatri Sityodtong (One Championship), Andre Soelistyo (GoTo), Vidit Aatrey (Meesho), Jaspreet Singh (Druva), Girish Mathrubootham (Freshdesk).