Peak XV raises Surge seed cap to $5M for new cohort

Peak XV Partners, which manages over $10 billion in assets, has increased its maximum seed-stage investment through its Surge platform to $5 million per company, up from the previous limit of $3 million. This policy takes effect with the launch of its Surge 12 cohort, a group of 18 startups. Peak XV has invested more than $50 million across this new batch, which has collectively raised over $90 million in seed funding. The firm raised the ceiling because the requirements for securing Series A funding have risen significantly, and modern deeptech startups require more capital early on.

The Surge platform has backed more than 180 startups since its 2019 launch, when Peak XV operated as Sequoia Capital India and Southeast Asia. Its top 10 graduates now generate over $1 billion in combined annual revenue. In the latest cohort, more than half of the 18 startups are based in India, though only five focus exclusively on the Indian market. The remaining 13 target global markets, reflecting a broader shift toward building internationally focused software and hardware from regional hubs.

The Surge 12 cohort features several AI and deeptech innovators. HiLoop, founded by Jad Ghalayini, Karan Brar, and Thomas Boser, helps developers adapt open-weight models for specific applications. Reinforce Labs, founded by Anish Das Sarma, builds tools to evaluate and red-team enterprise AI. Alma, founded by Nischith Shadagopan M N and Vinod Ganesan, is developing a personal computing platform. Other AI-focused startups include August AI, which serves 9 million healthcare users across 160 countries; Ditto, an iMessage AI dating matchmaker that previously raised $9.2 million in a Peak XV-led seed round; and Rosella, an AI commercial insurance brokerage that previously raised a $2.5 million pre-seed round.

The cohort also includes Puralink, which builds autonomous pipe-navigating robots, and ULOOK, which designs autonomous satellite systems and previously raised $2.3 million. For practitioners, Peak XV's shift indicates that early-stage deeptech and AI founders can now secure larger runways before needing to prove the metrics required for a Series A. By providing up to $5 million at the seed stage, the program allows technical founders to focus on complex product development and model training without the immediate pressure of seeking next-stage venture capital.