Peak XV Partners has raised the per-company investment ceiling for Surge, its seed-stage platform, from $3 million to $5 million, and unveiled Surge 12, a cohort of 18 startups. The firm, which manages more than $10 billion in assets across India and Southeast Asia, said it invested more than $50 million across the cohort, which collectively raised over $90 million in seed funding. Peak XV declined to disclose the new median investment per company but said it increased. At least three companies in the cohort had already raised outside funding, in some cases from Peak XV itself, before joining Surge.

Rajan Anandan, managing director at Peak XV, said ‘the bar to raise a Series A has gone up pretty significantly,’ and the firm is seeing more capital-intensive companies, particularly in deeptech, raising larger seed rounds. Surge has become more global with each cohort, he said. Only five of the 18 startups in Surge 12 are focused on the Indian market, while more than half are based in India; the remaining 13 target global markets, highlighting a gap between where companies are built and where they expect to find customers.

Since Surge launched in 2019, when Peak XV operated as Sequoia Capital India and Southeast Asia, it has backed more than 180 startups founded by entrepreneurs from more than 18 nationalities. Peak XV says the 10 largest companies to emerge from the cohorts now generate more than $1 billion in combined annual revenue. Anandan described Surge as one way Peak XV invests at the seed stage, alongside its standard seed investing, and the firm remains an investor as companies progress through later rounds. Founders typically include repeat entrepreneurs, experienced operators, and highly specialized technical founders; about 50% to 60% of a typical cohort come from operating roles at established technology companies.

The Surge 12 startups span AI, robotics, space, consumer products, healthcare, music, and fintech. Alma is building a personal computing platform focused on faster, more affordable computer use; its founders previously worked at Microsoft Research and were founding engineers at Sarvam AI. August AI provides a healthcare platform combining AI with physician-led care, reaching over 9 million users across 160 countries. Ditto, an AI dating matchmaker inside iMessage aimed at college students, had already raised $9.2 million in a Peak XV-led seed round. GameStock brings competition mechanics to financial markets. HiLoop helps AI companies adapt open-weight models for specific applications using a post-training platform. Hoola Health focuses on pediatric and family care, offering consultations, vaccinations, medicines, diagnostics, developmental therapy, and dental services. Kello is an AI-powered talent-discovery platform focused on potential and trajectory rather than conventional credentials. Kindling is building a ‘storytelling operating system’ for tech startups using AI for communications and content. Puralink develops autonomous robots that navigate underground pipe networks. Reinforce Labs builds tools to evaluate, red-team, and remediate enterprise AI systems. Riffle is a browser-based platform for musicians to create, collaborate, and share music. Rosella is an AI-native commercial insurance brokerage for U.S. businesses; it raised roughly $2.5 million in a pre-seed round led by Peak XV and Intact Private Capital earlier this year. Tribe Money offers an AI-powered personal finance platform. ULOOK builds autonomous satellite systems for radio-frequency sensing and spectrum intelligence; it had raised roughly $2.3 million from growX Ventures and InfoEdge Ventures before joining Surge. Wingit is a beauty platform aimed at India’s premium-consumer market. Three other startups in the cohort have not publicly revealed their names or products; Peak XV said they are working in education, applied AI, and medical products.