Accel

Accel is a global venture capital firm with over 40 years of history backing exceptional technology companies from inception through all phases of growth. With offices in Palo Alto, London, and Bangalore, Accel manages significant capital across early-stage and growth funds, investing in companies that become category leaders.

Accel has been an early partner to iconic companies including Atlassian, Bumble, CrowdStrike, Facebook, Flipkart, Freshworks, Qualtrics, Slack, Spotify, Squarespace, and UiPath. With 400+ team members globally, Accel provides comprehensive support covering product development, go-to-market strategy, talent acquisition, and business development.

For ambitious founders, Accel offers patient capital, strategic guidance from experienced investors (many former operators), and access to a powerful global network of portfolio companies, executives, and follow-on investors across three continents.

Investment Focus

• Technology Areas: Enterprise SaaS, cloud infrastructure, AI/ML, developer tools, security, fintech, consumer internet, marketplaces
• Geography: US, Europe, India, and Southeast Asia
• Stage: Seed through growth (Series A, B, C, and beyond)
• Recent Focus Areas: AI applications, enterprise AI platforms, vertical AI, consumer innovation, fintech infrastructure, manufacturing technology

Company Criteria

• High-growth potential with large addressable markets ($1B+)
• Strong founding teams with technical depth and domain expertise
• Product-market fit or clear path to achieving it
• Scalable business models with strong unit economics
• Ambition to build category-defining companies

Stage Preferences

Seed/Early Stage:

• Investment: $1M-$10M
• Focus: Product development, initial traction, team building
• Ideal: Technical founders with domain expertise

Series A:

• Investment: $10M-$25M
• Focus: Product-market fit achieved, scaling go-to-market
• Ideal: Revenue traction, strong retention metrics

Growth Stage:

• Investment: $25M-$100M+
• Focus: Market leadership, international expansion, category dominance
• Ideal: Proven business model, strong growth trajectory

Recent Fund Activity (2025-2026)

• India Fund VIII: $650M for early-stage Indian startups
• Growth Fund: $4B+ for late-stage investments
• Active across AI, consumer, fintech, and manufacturing sectors

Ideal Fit

✓ Excellent for:

• B2B SaaS with strong product differentiation
• AI/ML infrastructure and applications
• Developer tools and infrastructure
• Fintech platforms and infrastructure
• Consumer apps with network effects
• Marketplace businesses with strong unit economics
• Security and compliance solutions

✗ Poor fit if:

• Services or consulting business model
• Small addressable market (<$500M)
• No clear technology moat or differentiation
• Capital-intensive businesses without strong margins
• Pre-product without technical validation

Investment Process

Step	Timeline	Details
Warm introduction	—	Via portfolio founders, other VCs, or trusted network
Initial meeting	1-2 weeks	Pitch, product demo, team assessment
Partner evaluation	1-2 weeks	Internal discussion and interest validation
Due diligence	2-4 weeks	Product, market, technical, financial, customer references
Partnership decision	1 week	Full partnership vote
Term sheet	3-5 days	Investment terms negotiation
Legal & closing	2-4 weeks	Documentation and funding

Total timeline: Typically 6-10 weeks from first meeting to close

How to Approach

1. Best path: Warm introduction from Accel portfolio company founder, co-investor, or trusted connection
2. Partner identification: Research Accel's portfolio to identify the most relevant partner for your sector
3. Direct outreach: Partners are accessible via LinkedIn and X/Twitter
4. Regional focus: Connect with the right office (US, Europe, or India) based on your location

Investment Structure

• Ownership: Typically targets meaningful ownership (10-20% at early stages)
• Board seats: Usually takes board seat at Series A and beyond
• Lead investor: Prefers to lead or co-lead rounds
• Follow-on: Strong track record of supporting companies across multiple rounds
• Support: Full access to global platform regardless of investment size

What They Look For

• Team: Technical strength, domain expertise, execution capability, coachability
• Market: Large and growing addressable market, clear customer pain point
• Product: Differentiated technology, early customer validation or traction
• Traction: Varies by stage - seed needs validation, Series A needs revenue growth
• Vision: Ambition to build a generational, category-defining company
• Timing: Right moment in market evolution for the solution

Accel Programs

• Accel Atoms: Early-stage scaling program for portfolio companies (4-month program)
• SeedToScale: Open-source platform with insights from successful founders
• Talent Network: Access to executive recruiting and team building resources
• Customer Introductions: Connections to enterprises and potential customers

Primary Resources

• Official Website
• Portfolio Companies
• Team & Partners
• News & Insights

Regional Offices

United States:

• Headquarters: 500 University Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301
• Focus: Enterprise, consumer, fintech, infrastructure

Europe:

• Office: 1 New Burlington Place, London W1S 2HX
• Focus: Enterprise SaaS, fintech, consumer, AI

India & Southeast Asia:

• Office: Bangalore, Karnataka
• Focus: Consumer, SaaS, fintech, manufacturing

Key Investment Areas

• Enterprise: SaaS platforms, productivity tools, collaboration software
• Infrastructure: Cloud, developer tools, data platforms, security
• AI/ML: Enterprise AI, vertical AI, AI infrastructure
• Consumer: Social, content, marketplaces, aspirational brands
• Fintech: Payments, wealth management, infrastructure, digital distribution
• Manufacturing: Industry 5.0, India-to-global supply chains

Notable Portfolio Companies

Enterprise: Atlassian, Slack, Qualtrics, Freshworks, UiPath, CrowdStrike, Tenable, Dropbox, Webflow

Consumer: Facebook, Spotify, Flipkart, Swiggy, Bumble, Squarespace, Etsy

Infrastructure: Segment, Algolia, PagerDuty, 1Password, BrowserStack

Fintech: Braintree, Revolut, Checkout.com, Acko

Content & Research

• SeedToScale Platform
• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X
• Blog and insights on accel.com

Support Services

• Talent: Executive search, team building, compensation benchmarking
• Go-to-Market: Sales strategy, marketing, customer acquisition
• Product: Product development guidance, design resources
• Technical: CTO network, technical advisory, architecture review
• Business Development: Customer introductions, partnership facilitation
• Follow-on Funding: Strong network for later-stage capital

Recent Activity

• Fund VIII (India): $650M announced January 2025
• Growth Fund: $4B+ for late-stage companies
• Active in AI, particularly enterprise AI and vertical AI applications
• Focus on manufacturing, consumer brands, and fintech infrastructure