Prashanth Prakash | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Indian |
| Occupation(s) | Venture Capitalist, entrepreneur |
| Spouse | Amitha Prashanth |
| Awards | Padma Shri 2025 |
Prashanth Prakash is an Indian Venture Capitalist, entrepreneur and philanthropist based in Bengaluru. He is the founding partner of Accel India. [1] [2] He received the Padma Shri in 2025 from the Government of India for his contribution to Trade & Industry. [3] He is also the chairman of the Vision Group for Startups for the Government of Karnataka. [4] [5] [6] [7]
In 1995, Prashanth Prakash founded Visual Reality, one of India’s first animation companies. In 1997 he founded NetKraft, an offshore solutions company focusing on retail and healthcare verticals. [8]
Since 2004, he has played a key role as a Venture Capitalist in nurturing Karnataka and India's start-up landscape. [7] [9]
In 2008, Prashanth Prakash along with Subrata Mitra and Mahendran Balachandran founded the Indian arm of the US venture capital firm Accel. [10] [11]
In 2021, he was appointed as an advisor to the 13th Chief Minister of Karnataka Sri B. S. Yediyurappa. [12] [13]
As a partner at Accel, Prashanth Prakash has played a vital role in shaping up renowned Indian startups such as Flipkart, Ola, Freshworks, Bookmyshow, Swiggy & Bounce amongst many others. [14] [15] [16]
He was one of the jury members of Economic Times Startup Awards. [17] [18]
In October 2024, Prashanth Prakash became the joint owner of the Bengaluru franchise team in the second season of the Global e-Cricket Premier League (GEPL). [19]
Prashanth Prakash is the chairman of United Way of Bengaluru, Sikshana and UnboxingBLR Foundation. Under these organizations he curates, facilitates, and promotes activities for communities and schools. [20] [21] [22]
Prashanth has helped Sikshana in expanding their work from 10 to 100 schools. [23] [24] He has also collaborated with government schools and anganwadis emphasizing education for girls. His work has influenced 50,000 schools and 3 million people in India. [25]
In 2021, Prashanth Prakash, in collaboration with several venture capitalists, established a 100-crore COVID fund [26] and created ACT Grants to encourage start-ups focused on developing products and services to tackle Pandemic related concerns. [27]
In August 2022, Prashanth Prakash partnered with The Indian Institute of Science to set up a geriatrics wing as part of IISc's upcoming Bagchi-Parthasarathy Hospital. [28] [29] He is also the Founding Patron of the Longevity India initiative in IISc. [30]
Prashanth Prakash has co-authored a book titled "Unboxing Bengaluru - The City of New Beginnings". [31] It was launched by the 22nd Chief Minister of Karnataka, Sri Siddaramaiah. [32]