By Vikram Sethi

Accel Partners, a global venture capital and growth equity firm, and an investor in Facebook, has announced the closing of Accel India III, a $155 million fund for seed and early stage investments in India. Accel’s India team will also evaluate select late-stage investments in India.

The fund has attracted institutional investors from North America, Europe and Asia, and will focus on opportunities in Internet services, digital media, SaaS and enterprise technologies, mobile, healthcare and education, and other high-growth sectors. Accel currently has 34 portfolio companies in India.

 Subrata Mitra (Partner, Accel Partners): While traditional venture capital and growth equity have been increasingly drawn to India over the past several years, the true seed and early stage markets are still under-served, attracting relatively smaller amounts of capital. We have seen a significant increase in entrepreneurial activity in the last few years, and in particular, we are pleased to see strong momentum from Internet companies in India.

Accel Partners has eleven investment professionals based in India, led by four partners: Mahendran Balachandran, Shekhar Kirani, Subrata Mitra, and Prashanth Prakash. Accel manages $3 billion in funds for these later stage growth investments, and currently has over $8 billion under management worldwide.