Peak XV Partners has increased the maximum amount it can invest in a startup through its Surge seed programme to $5 million, up from $3 million, as the venture firm introduced an 18-company cohort spanning artificial intelligence, robotics, healthcare, space, fintech, consumer technology and more.
Peak XV Partners is increasing the firepower of Surge, its seed-stage investment programme, at a time when startups are increasingly raising larger rounds earlier in their development.
The venture capital firm has unveiled Surge 12, an 18-startup cohort that will be the first to operate under a new investment ceiling of up to $5 million per company.
That is an increase from the programme’s previous maximum of $3 million.
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Add INDYASTORY on GooglePeak XV said it invested more than $50 million across the latest cohort, while the 18 startups have collectively raised more than $90 million in seed funding.
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The new cohort also reflects the increasingly international character of the programme. While more than half of the startups are based in India, only five of the 18 companies primarily target the Indian market. The others are building for customers in international markets.
Why Peak XV increased Surge’s investment ceiling
The higher investment limit comes as seed-stage fundraising becomes more demanding for many founders.
Rajan Anandan, managing director at Peak XV Partners, told TechCrunch that the threshold for raising a Series A has increased significantly.
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He also pointed to another trend: some startups, particularly in deep tech, require substantially more capital before reaching the next institutional funding milestone.
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Add INDYASTORY on GoogleThat changes the economics of seed investing.
A startup working on a conventional software product may be able to build and launch relatively quickly. A company developing robotics, satellites, advanced AI infrastructure or medical technology can require significantly more money for research, engineering, testing and deployment.
The $5 million ceiling gives Surge greater room to participate in these capital-intensive businesses at an earlier stage.
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Add INDYASTORY on GoogleSurge 12 brings together 18 startups
The latest cohort covers an unusually wide range of sectors.
| Startup | Founders | What it is building |
|---|---|---|
| Alma | Nischith Shadagopan M N, Vinod Ganesan | Personal computing platform |
| August AI | Anuruddh Mishra | AI-powered healthcare platform |
| Ditto | Allen Wang, Eric Liu | AI dating matchmaking inside iMessage |
| GameStock | Antoine Mistico, Easton Dana, Vivek Indlebele Narasimha Prasad | Competition-driven investing and trading platform |
| Hiloop | Jad Ghalayini, Karan Brar, Thomas Boser | AI model post-training platform |
| Hoola Health | Deeksha Senguttuvan | Integrated healthcare platform for children and families |
| Kello | Mona Gandhi, Subramanya Jingade | AI-powered talent discovery |
| Kindling | Adam Miller, Sachin Shah | AI-assisted communications platform for startups |
| Puralink | Harrison Crowe-Maxwell, Shyeon Delnawaz, Thien “Long” Tran | Autonomous underground pipe robots |
| Reinforce Labs | Anish Das Sarma | Enterprise AI evaluation and red-teaming |
| Riffle | Anurag Choudhary, deo | Browser-based music creation platform |
| Rosella | Chris Dwyer, Sean Stuart | AI-native commercial insurance brokerage |
| Tribe Money | Himanshu Arora, Nikhil Shanker, Aditya Varma | AI-powered personal finance platform |
| Ulook | Adheesh Boratkar, Siddhesh Ravindra Naik | Autonomous satellite systems and radio-frequency sensing |
| Wingit | Nikunj Kothari, Saksham Khandelwal | Premium beauty platform for India |
| Undisclosed startup 1 | Not publicly disclosed | Education |
| Undisclosed startup 2 | Not publicly disclosed | Applied AI |
| Undisclosed startup 3 | Not publicly disclosed | Medical products |
The diversity of the group illustrates how seed investing is expanding beyond conventional SaaS and consumer-internet businesses.
AI infrastructure, autonomous machines, aerospace, healthcare and enterprise security now sit alongside more familiar consumer categories.
The new Surge cohort is more global than earlier batches
Geographic reach is another defining feature of Surge 12.
Peak XV says the latest group includes founders and companies spread across cities ranging from San Francisco to Sydney.
Only five of the 18 startups are primarily focused on India.
That does not mean the rest are necessarily headquartered outside India. The distinction is between where companies are built and where they intend to find customers.
More than half of the startups in Surge 12 are based in India, while many are developing products for global markets.
This reflects a major shift in the Indian startup ecosystem.
Indian founders are increasingly building companies for international customers from the beginning rather than treating overseas expansion as a later-stage objective.
AI remains central to the new cohort
Artificial intelligence appears across several companies in Surge 12, although the applications are very different.
Hiloop is developing a platform that helps AI companies adapt open-weight models for specific applications through post-training.
Reinforce Labs focuses on evaluating and red-teaming enterprise AI systems, addressing a growing requirement as companies deploy AI in business environments.
Kello is applying AI to talent discovery, while Kindling is using AI to support startup communications and content production.
Tribe Money is applying AI to personal finance, and August AI combines AI technology with physician-led healthcare.
Other startups in the cohort use advanced technology in areas where AI is not necessarily the central product, including robotics and satellite systems.
The variety suggests that Peak XV is looking beyond the idea of a single “AI startup” category and instead backing businesses where AI can become part of a much broader technology stack.
Deep tech gets more room at the seed stage
One of the strongest signals from the new funding ceiling is the importance of deep technology.
Deep-tech startups can have longer development cycles and higher upfront capital requirements than lightweight software businesses.
A company building autonomous robots for underground infrastructure, for example, needs hardware, sensing systems, testing environments and physical deployment.
Likewise, a satellite company may need specialised engineering, launch access and extensive testing before its product reaches meaningful commercial scale.
A larger seed cheque can give such companies additional runway before they need to raise another major round.
For investors, that can also mean taking larger bets earlier, when technical and market uncertainty remains high.
Several Surge startups had already raised money
The latest cohort also demonstrates that joining Surge does not always happen at the very beginning of a company’s financing history.
At least three startups in the new group had raised outside capital before entering the programme, according to the supplied reporting.
Ditto
AI dating startup Ditto, founded by UC Berkeley dropouts Allen Wang and Eric Liu, had already raised approximately $9.2 million in a Peak XV-led seed round earlier in 2026.
The startup is developing an AI matchmaking experience within iMessage and is targeting college-age users.
Rosella
Commercial-insurance startup Rosella had previously raised roughly $2.5 million in pre-seed funding, led by Peak XV and Intact Private Capital.
The company is using AI to automate parts of the traditionally manual process of arranging commercial insurance for US businesses.
Ulook
Space technology startup Ulook had reportedly raised around $2.3 million in seed funding from growX Ventures and InfoEdge Ventures before joining Surge.
Its founders have worked on more than a dozen satellite missions and are developing autonomous satellite systems for radio-frequency sensing and spectrum intelligence.
These examples show that Surge can function as part of a company’s broader financing journey rather than necessarily being the first institutional investor to appear.
Who are the founders Peak XV is backing?
Peak XV says Surge typically attracts a mixture of repeat founders, experienced operators and highly specialised technical entrepreneurs.
Anandan said roughly 50% to 60% of a typical cohort consists of founders coming from operating roles at established technology companies.
That founder mix is increasingly relevant as venture investors seek people with experience solving complex technical and operational problems.
In deep tech especially, founders may need years of engineering or research expertise before they are ready to build a commercial company.
The latest cohort reflects that pattern.
Several founders have backgrounds at major technology companies, research organisations or previous startups.
Alma is building a new personal-computing platform
Alma, founded by Nischith Shadagopan M N and Vinod Ganesan, is working on a personal-computing product aimed at making computer usage faster and more affordable.
Both founders have backgrounds in advanced technology, including experience with Microsoft Research and Bengaluru-based AI company Sarvam AI.
Their previous work places the company close to the intersection of personal computing and artificial intelligence.
August AI combines technology with physician-led care
August AI, founded by Anuruddh Mishra, is building a healthcare platform combining artificial intelligence with physician involvement.
The company was reportedly inspired by Mishra’s own experience with a medical misdiagnosis.
According to the supplied information, August AI has reached more than 9 million users in 160 countries.
Its model reflects a broader movement toward using AI to improve access to healthcare while keeping medical professionals involved in the care process.
Puralink is taking robotics underground
Puralink is tackling a very different problem.
The startup, founded by Harrison Crowe-Maxwell, Shyeon Delnawaz and Thien “Long” Tran, is developing autonomous robots capable of navigating underground pipe networks.
Crowe-Maxwell reportedly began building robots at a young age and later transformed university research into patented drive technology used by the startup.
The company is targeting infrastructure that is difficult and costly to inspect manually.
Ulook is taking AI and sensing into orbit
Space startup Ulook is developing autonomous satellite systems designed for radio-frequency sensing and spectrum intelligence.
Its founders have reportedly worked on more than 12 satellite missions.
The company illustrates another theme in Surge 12: software intelligence is increasingly being combined with physical infrastructure.
Satellites, robots, sensors and specialised hardware all require significant capital, making the new $5 million ceiling particularly relevant to companies in this category.
Reinforce Labs is focused on AI safety
As businesses deploy increasingly capable AI systems, companies also need tools to determine whether those systems are behaving safely and securely.
Reinforce Labs, founded by Anish Das Sarma, is developing technology to evaluate, red-team and remediate enterprise AI systems.
Das Sarma previously founded a company acquired by Airbnb and later worked at Google, where he led AI and machine-learning teams.
The startup is entering a market that is growing alongside corporate AI adoption: testing systems before they are trusted with sensitive business tasks.
Kello wants to rethink how companies find talent
Kello, founded by Mona Gandhi and Subramanya Jingade, is using AI to focus recruitment on a candidate’s potential and trajectory, rather than relying primarily on conventional credentials.
Gandhi says she was Airbnb’s first female engineer and previously founded Upraised.
Jingade previously co-founded AmbitionBox.
The startup is effectively applying AI to one of the largest inefficiencies in modern hiring: assessing people based on incomplete information.
Hoola Health brings multiple children’s services together
Hoola Health, founded by Deeksha Senguttuvan, provides a broad healthcare offering for children and their families.
Its platform combines services including consultations, vaccinations, medicines, diagnostics, developmental therapy and dental care.
Senguttuvan also comes from a healthcare background, with her family involved in operating a hospital group.
The company is seeking to make fragmented child healthcare services more accessible through a single platform.
Kindling is building an AI-powered communications layer
Kindling, founded by Adam Miller and Sachin Shah, describes its product as a “storytelling operating system” for technology startups.
The platform uses AI to help companies create and manage communications and content.
For startups, communications can become increasingly important as they raise capital, recruit employees, launch products and build relationships with customers.
Kindling is attempting to turn that often fragmented process into software.
Riffle wants to make music collaboration simpler
Riffle, founded by Anurag Choudhary and deo, is building a browser-based environment for musicians.
The idea is to allow artists to create, collaborate and share music in one place, reducing the need to move repeatedly between multiple software tools.
The product belongs to a broader class of creator technology aimed at bringing formerly specialised workflows into simpler collaborative environments.
GameStock adds competition to investing
GameStock, founded by Antoine Mistico, Easton Dana and Vivek Indlebele Narasimha Prasad, is attempting to introduce more competitive mechanics into financial markets.
Rather than treating investing solely as a conventional financial activity, the company is exploring a more game-like experience.
Mistico is a two-time founder and former professional baseball player, according to the supplied profile.
Tribe Money is building an AI personal-finance assistant
Tribe Money, founded by Himanshu Arora, Nikhil Shanker and Aditya Varma, is developing an AI-powered platform for personal finance.
The product is designed to help users monitor their money, research investments and make financial decisions.
The startup sits at the intersection of consumer finance and AI, two sectors where technology companies are increasingly trying to simplify traditionally complex information.
Wingit is targeting India’s premium beauty consumer
Indian consumer startup Wingit, founded by Nikunj Kothari and Saksham Khandelwal, is building a beauty platform aimed at the country’s expanding premium-consumer segment.
Its focus is on how customers discover and purchase higher-end beauty products.
The business reflects the continued evolution of India’s consumer internet market from mass-market e-commerce toward more specialised categories.
Hiloop is building tools for AI model post-training
Hiloop, founded by Jad Ghalayini, Karan Brar and Thomas Boser, is addressing a technical challenge in AI development: adapting general-purpose open models for specific applications.
Its post-training platform is designed to help AI companies customise models for particular use cases.
The founding team includes former Reducto engineers and a Cambridge computer-science PhD, according to the supplied material.
Rosella is bringing AI into commercial insurance
Insurance remains one of the most paperwork-heavy areas of financial services.
Rosella, founded by Chris Dwyer and Sean Stuart, is developing an AI-native commercial insurance brokerage for US businesses.
The company is aiming to automate portions of the process involved in finding and placing business insurance.
Its pre-seed funding before joining Surge suggests that the company had already attracted institutional interest before entering the latest cohort.
The latest Surge cohort shows how seed investing is changing
The larger cheque size tells an important story about the current venture market.
A seed round is no longer necessarily associated with a small team building a lightweight software product in a few months.
More startups are emerging in AI, robotics, aerospace, healthcare, infrastructure and deep tech, where technical development can require significant capital before revenue appears.
Investors that want exposure to those opportunities may need to commit more money at the seed stage.
Peak XV’s $5 million ceiling is therefore more than a numerical increase.
It reflects a changing definition of what an early-stage startup can look like.
Surge has become a significant pipeline for Peak XV
Surge launched in 2019, when Peak XV still operated as Sequoia Capital India and Southeast Asia.
Since then, Peak XV says the programme has backed more than 180 startups founded by entrepreneurs representing more than 18 nationalities.
The firm also says the 10 largest companies to emerge from those cohorts now generate more than $1 billion in combined annual revenue.
For Peak XV, that makes Surge more than a standalone accelerator-style programme. Anandan described it as the firm’s primary route for seed-stage investing, with the venture firm continuing to participate as portfolio companies move into later funding rounds.
Why the $5 million ceiling matters for founders
For founders, a larger seed investment can mean more time to prove a business before returning to the fundraising market.
That can be especially important for companies facing lengthy product-development cycles.
It can also allow startups to hire specialised technical teams earlier, invest in infrastructure and conduct more expensive testing without immediately depending on another financing round.
But a larger cheque does not eliminate the fundamental risks of building a startup.
Founders still need to demonstrate product-market fit, manage capital carefully and show investors that the underlying business can eventually scale.
Peak XV’s latest bet reflects a more global Indian startup ecosystem
Surge 12 shows another important evolution.
Indian founders are no longer necessarily choosing between building for India and building for the rest of the world.
A company can be founded in Bengaluru, employ engineers in India and sell primarily to customers in North America, Europe or Australia.
That global-first model is becoming increasingly common in deep tech, developer infrastructure, enterprise software and AI.
Peak XV’s latest cohort reflects that transition.
The bigger story behind Surge 12
The significance of Surge 12 is not simply the number of companies in the cohort or the size of Peak XV’s cheque.
It is the combination of larger seed rounds, capital-intensive technology, global markets and increasingly experienced founders.
Peak XV is raising the amount it can commit because some of the companies it wants to back need more capital before they are ready for the next major financing stage.
Meanwhile, the cohort itself demonstrates the breadth of the startup opportunities investors now see—from AI safety and personal finance to underground robotics, children’s healthcare, satellite intelligence and premium beauty.
With Surge 12, Peak XV is signalling that seed-stage investing is becoming larger, more international and increasingly focused on technically ambitious businesses that may require substantial capital long before they reach scale.
