Update: Sequoia raises $385M India fund

Sequoia Capital has raised a $385 million India growth fund, according to a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It lists the fund’s name as Sequoia Capial India Growth Fund I.

The firm has collected $383 million from 75 investors and plans to raise another $2 million. The firm typically reserves an ownership stake in its funds for the investing partners, with their participation the fund could top out at $400 million. The partners listed on the filing include all of the same U.S. investors in the firm’s $861 million Sequoia Capital Growth Fund III as well as the managing directors of its Indian affiliate.

It is unclear if Sequoia plans to bundle the growth vehicle with its other India funds or whether it will remain separate.

Sequoia Capital India plans to make about 20 investments in the range of $10 million to $50 million over the next three years. It will do early stage and late stage deals, investing as little as $1 million, according to Indian press reports.

U.S. firms are increasing their exposure to India by launching dedicated funds, hiring new partners and opening branch offices. Draper Fisher Jurvetson is interviewing Indian investors to create IT and life sciences affiliates in India, Managing Director Steve Jurvetson told PE Week in May. The size of DFJ’s Indian funds has not been set, but the two affiliates would be separate from the $200 million India-oriented fund Tim Draper mentioned on a trip to the subcontinent last fall.

Meanwhile, IDG Ventures, the investment arm of International Data Group, has been working on raising a $150 million India fund since June. Last week, Matrix Partners tapped Avnish Bajaj, the co-founder and former CEO of Baazee.com, “India’s largest online marketplace,” and Rishi Navani, a former managing director at Westbridge, to run the firm’s $150 million India fund.

The India venture market has been active this year. Private equity investors poured $1.4 billion into 69 companies in the first quarter, which is more than three times the amount they invested during the same period in 2005, according to Venture Intelligence India.

Sequoia invests from two funds in the United States. Its $445 million Sequoia Capital XII focuses on early stage companies and its $861 million Sequoia Capital Growth Fund III has been set up to put down big bets on growing public and private companies looking to make an acquisition or a big strategic move that will catapult growth.