Sequoia spinoff PeakXV ready to write big cheques for Australian startups
Peak XV, formerly known as Sequoia India and Southeast Asia, is looking to expand its Australian portfolio — with investments of up to US$50 million.
When Sequoia Capital cut off its Indian arm last year, the subsidiary regrouped as Peak XV and gave itself the goal of building a global VC out of Asia.
It didn’t take long for it to realise Australia would play a crucial part in achieving that lofty goal, Peak XV managing director Abheek Anand said during a panel at SXSW Sydney this week.
“It’s a market that is large enough that there’s enough engineers out there that are trying to figure out what the big global problems are,” he said, “but not large enough that people just want to build an Australia-only business.”
Anand is based in Singapore but, alongside other members of the VC’s team, has been making regular trips to Australia over the past year. That means opportunity for Australia’s startup sector: PeakXV’s investments range from USD500,000 ($746,000) early-stage punts to USD50 million bets on more mature outfits.
