Ecommerce group Naspers' investment arm, Prosus, is set to invest in startups earlier than ever through the partnership.
Prosus, the holding company for digital media and consumer services group Naspers, and venture capital firm Accel are teaming up to invest in very early-stage startups in India through a partnership launched today.
Under the agreement, each company will commit between $100,000 and $1m to “day-zero” startups in their earliest days, when they are still in the process of forming their ideas.
Accel will be acting through its pre-seed accelerator programme, Atoms X, and the initiative will be backing “leaptech” companies, which Accel describes as going beyond deeptech to tackle problems that require patience and conviction before the validation of the technology.
The partnership will focus on areas like the energy transition, AI-driven automation, internet services and advanced manufacturing. It represents the earliest stage Prosus has invested in startups. While pre-seed stage is in its remit, its CVC unit Prosus Ventures generally invests in larger rounds at later stages.
Recent Prosus investments in Indian startups include participation in a $100m round for affordable housing finance provider Vastu Housing Finance, and an $80m round for supply chain finance provider Mitifi, both made in December last year.
Fernando Moncada Rivera
Fernando Moncada Rivera is a reporter at Global Corporate Venturing and also host of the CVC Unplugged podcast.
