Welcome to Surge, a rapid scale-up program for startups in India and Southeast Asia.
Surge combines $1 million to $2 million of seed capital with company-building workshops, global immersion trips and support from a community of exceptional founders.
Our Goal:
To supercharge your startup. And give you an unfair advantage, right out of the gate.
Meet our Mentors
Latest From Our Blog
Video
Leverage Your Board To Debug Your Business
Sequoia's Doug Leone talks about how to debug your business at Surge 02 2019 in San Francisco: "I've never met a salesman.. who could not sell a product where there was product-market fit". Products that don't sell usually show up as a sales problem - but bugs can really come from anywhere in the business. Doug advises founders to tap on their board’s expertise to find solutions to problems.
News
Introducing Surge 03 2020
Surge 03 2020, which kicked off on April 13, is an incredibly diverse group. One-third of the companies in this cohort have at least one female founder. Surge startups are based in India and Southeast Asia, with founders eight nationalities, including India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Italy, Canada, Barbados and Sweden. Their companies span a wide range of sectors, including SaaS, Dev tools, Consumer, Fitness, F&B, Education and Health.
Video
Classplus: Amp up your customer’s superpowers
Tutors aren’t just teachers – they’re also micro-entrepreneurs with their own brand and customers. Surge 02 2019 startup Classplus recognised this, and built an app for India’s vast population of hyperlocal tuition centres. The mobile SaaS platform enables tutors to handle payments, communication, online assessments and more on an app they can brand as their own. Classplus cofounder Mukul Rustagi talks about how a deep understanding of your customer’s point of differentiation helps drive critical choices on product strategy & design.
Video
Dreaming With Your Eyes Open
It's not enough to dream big – you need to dream with your eyes open. Tokopedia's William Tanuwijaya advises founders that in order to achieve their goals, their dreams need to align with what they think, say and do to become a commitment. Only then will their vision come true.
Video
Making Biryani and the Art of Appetizing OKRs
"Your people should be celebrated for making biryani, not for hitting numbers... If everything becomes metrics, there's no joy in the company". Speaking at Surge 02 2019 in San Francisco, Freshworks founder Girish Mathrubootham advises founders to find the 'biryani' that can power their business and drive growth, by encouraging employees to shine in their roles.
Video
Finding Happiness as a Founder
"I think when you have a much bigger goal, then these crises just pass." – CRED founder and Surge mentor Kunal Shah advises the Surge 03 2020 cohort that rather than chasing happiness, founders should shift their focus to creating new things in a bid to discover "never-ending joy".
Video
Chilibeli: Empowering Women Through Social Commerce
Earning extra income while helping their neighbors get fresh produce at affordable prices - that’s what many Indonesian women are doing with the help of Surge 02 2019 startup, Chilibeli. Co-founder Alex Feng speaks to Surge’s Rajan Anandan on how the social commerce platform empowers women to become micro-entrepreneurs, all while giving them an app to compile, order and distribute fresh produce to fellow Indonesians.
Video
How Obsession, Not Passion, Helped Bill Gates Succeed
Obsession is a key trait that’s common to founders who’ve succeeded in their mission and made it big. Sequoia Capital’s Michael Moritz speaks to Surge 02 founders in San Francisco, and recalls the lengths Bill Gates would go to during his early Microsoft days to cut out anything that might distract him from his business.