You may apply by filling out the following application form.

We require (and accept) only 1 application per company/team. If your company is selected, we will encourage all co-founders to attend the program.

 

Surge is designed to amp up your idea and supercharge your startup. Founders will work with Surge team members, mentors and experts to make tangible progress towards launching or accelerating their companies.

• Surge Team:  Each company will work with the Surge team to define actionable 16-week goals. The team will help you lay down the overall strategy, track weekly progress and connect you to mentors and experts.

   

• Mentors: The Surge mentor panel consists of successful startup founders, operators, company builders and experienced investors.  These are people who have been there, done that!  They can help brainstorm growth hacks for your start-up or even get down into the weeds with you when required.

   

• Experts:  These are internal and external professionals that will be able to help you with their respective domains of technology, recruiting, marketing, finance, legal/compliance, and fund raising. If and when you have specific questions, such as how to scale your technology platform to deal with hypergrowth, or how to most effectively structure your ESOP pool, you may call upon help from these experts. Founders can request for 1×1 office hours with experts throughout the program.

 

With customers and stakeholders coming from all corners of the world, there is an increasing need for founders to have a global outlook, learn from best-in-class companies across geographies, and expand their horizons. US has seen evolution of the world’s most iconic SaaS companies while China is leading the charge in product and business model innovation for consumer platform businesses. Exposure to best practices in different markets provide leverage to any business.

 

The world’s best companies are increasingly being built from anywhere and are global in approach. For example, India is the biggest market for Stockholm based Truecaller, OYO Rooms is operating internationally, including China, Southeast Asia and the UK, Go-Jek is expanding in the ASEAN, Stripe is used by companies from over 120 countries and Zomato has presence in multiple markets outside India.

Our AMP curriculum, cross-border trips & international panel of coaches and mentors have all been designed with global sensibilities and an increasingly international audience in mind.

 

Founders will book & pay for their own travel, which they are welcome to fund from their Surge investment.

 

Please click here to read more about ‘funding and terms’.

 

There will be AMP workshops that run on selected weeks; weekly dinners with your cohort and senior ecosystem founders and investors; and week-long global immersion trips. Meanwhile, you will continue to work on building your company during execution sprints throughout the program.  For a detailed program overview, see About Surge.

Founders have the opportunity to present their businesses to a larger set of venture and strategic corporate investors during UpSurge, which will consist of a series of networking mixers and one-on-one meetings.

There is no high-stakes, high-stress ‘capital auction’ style demo day. This week is designed to give you the opportunity to make connections, build relationships and find prospective partners who’ll be with you for the long term.

 

You’ll stay connected with the rest of the Surge movement through alumni and networking events designed to strengthen the community.

The relationships you form with other founders, coaches, mentors and experts will have an impact on your entrepreneurial journey long after you’ve graduated.

 

Surge is an initiative by Sequoia India. We are recruiting a new team for Surge and it is expected that Surge will have its own investment advisory committee that will be responsible for applicant selection, program management and overall operations related to Surge. 

Sequoia specialists and investment advisors will be involved as mentors and coaches. Surge will tap Sequoia, along with other founders and experts, to deliver AMP and provide other company-building support.

At Surge we aim to collaborate with the broader early stage ecosystem; we will invite other funds, angel investors and ecosystem partners to mentor founders and take part in future funding rounds.

 

Acceptance to Surge does not guarantee follow on funding from Sequoia India. Sequoia India will continue to make direct Seed and Series A investments in India and Southeast Asia.

 

Yes. For companies that have already raised angel, seed or other early-stage funding, Surge will help you get to Series A faster.

Yes. Surge is open to syndicating with other existing or new investors.