Peak XV Partners, a major venture capital firm with over $10 billion in assets under management, has raised the maximum seed-stage investment through its Surge platform to $5 million per startup, up from the previous $3 million. This move comes alongside the announcement of Surge 12, a new cohort comprising 18 startups. Peak XV allocated more than $50 million to these companies collectively, which have raised over $90 million in seed funding so far. The managing director of Peak XV, Rajan Anandan, highlighted that the increasing difficulty of Series A fundraising and the rise of capital-intensive sectors like deeptech are driving larger seed rounds.

Surge 12 features startups spanning a variety of industries such as AI, robotics, space, healthcare, fintech, consumer products, and music technology. While more than half of the cohort is based in India, 13 out of the 18 startups are targeting global markets, reflecting the platform’s growing international footprint. Founders tend to be experienced professionals, often repeat entrepreneurs or technical specialists, with many coming from operational roles in established tech firms. Since its launch in 2019 under the former name Sequoia Capital India and Southeast Asia, Surge has supported over 180 startups led by founders from more than 18 countries.

Among the cohort’s notable companies are Alma, which is building an affordable personal computing platform; August AI, a healthcare service combining AI with physician care and serving over nine million users worldwide; and Ditto, an AI-powered dating matchmaker integrated into iMessage. Others include Puralink, focusing on autonomous robots for underground pipe inspection, and ULOOK, developing satellite systems for radio-frequency sensing. Several startups had previously raised funding, with some rounds led or co-led by Peak XV itself.

As Surge continues to be Peak XV’s primary channel for seed investments, the firm plans to stay involved with these startups in subsequent funding rounds. The variety and scale of startups in this cohort underscore the shifting dynamics of early-stage investing, where larger seed checks are becoming necessary to support ambitious ventures that require significant upfront capital. Peak XV’s strategy emphasizes backing diverse teams and innovation across geographies, reinforcing its prominent role in fueling growth in both Indian and global tech ecosystems.