Tendulkar-helmed startup among 23 in Peak XV's Surge 11 early-stage programme

New Delhi, Sep 25 (PTI) Peak XV on Thursday announced the 11th cohort of its early-stage startup programme, Surge, with 23 startups, including those helmed by legendary cricketer Sanchin Tendulkar, an Olympic medalist and several industry veterans.

Surge 11 is Peak XV's most AI-first cohort to date, with 12 of the 23 startups building AI-led solutions across sectors such as manufacturing, semiconductors, finance, and consumer marketing, venture capital firm Peak XV, formerly Sequoia Capital India & SEA, said in a statement.

The programme also includes four fintech ventures, four consumer brands, and three companies focused on infrastructure and developer tools.

The selected companies span markets across India, the Asia-Pacific region, and beyond, the venture capital firm said in a statement.

Launched in 2019, Surge has grown into one of the region's most prominent seed-stage platforms. To date, more than 170 startups have participated in the programme, collectively raising over USD 3 billion in follow-on funding. The top ten companies from previous cohorts generate over USD 1 billion in annual revenues.

Notable founders in the current cohort include Tendulkar, co-founding Ten x You, a sportswear brand focused on play and performance, alongside Karthik Gurumurthy (who scaled Swiggy's Instamart to USD 1 billion revenue) and Karan Arora.

Also on the list are Olympic swimming medalist Grant Brits, who has an AI-powered trading platform AIR Trading, and Rishi Kedia, co-founder of Pre6, an AI platform for manufacturing.

Siddhant Jayakumar, ex-Google DeepMind and now leading Finster (an AI venture targeting financial services); Akanksha Jagwani and Avni Agarwal, who are building SixSense, which develops AI-driven solutions for semiconductor manufacturing; Bilal Abou-Diab and Sami Abdul Hadi, co-founders of Vault Wealth (Surge's first Middle East-based fintech startup); and Jeff Hara and Neha Mittal, former growth leaders at Pinterest and Twitter, launching Just AI - a startup transforming personalised marketing through artificial intelligence, are also part of it.

"At Surge, we believe the seed stage is where the magic begins, and Surge 11 reflects the extraordinary entrepreneurial energy across our region," said Rajan Anandan, Managing Director at Peak XV and Surge. "AI is leading the charge, transforming traditional sectors like banking, healthcare, and manufacturing, and giving rise to new consumer-facing applications." The firm noted a continued diversification in its cohorts, with growing momentum in fintech and consumer innovation alongside AI. The programme offers seed capital, mentorship, and hands-on operational guidance across areas such as product development, sales, marketing, culture, and fundraising.

A hallmark of Surge is its founder immersion experience, where participants interact directly with prominent tech leaders and entrepreneurs. Previous sessions have featured industry figures such as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, and Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach, among others.

Alumni from earlier Surge batches also return to mentor new founders. Past participants include Prukalpa Sankar of Atlan, Sagar Khatri of Multiplier, Bahadir Ozdemir of Airalo, and Dhvanil Sheth of Skillmatics.

The programme also brings global investors into the fold, including Sequoia Capital's Doug Leone, Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures, and Benchmark's Chetan Puttagunta, to advise on scaling and fundraising.

Surge 11 companies will undergo an intensive programme that culminates in an international immersion, with this year's edition set to conclude in the United States.

"Some of our speakers and mentors in previous cohorts include Sanjeev Bikhchandani of Info Edge; Harshil Mathur of Razorpay; Vidit Aatrey of Meesho; Amrish Rau of Pinelabs; Kunal Shah of CRED, Gokul Rajaram; Arvind Jain of Glean, and Aman Sanger of Cursor," the statement said. PTI ANZ SHW