Prashanth Prakash | |
|---|---|
 Prakash in 2025 | |
| Alma mater | Bangalore University University of Delaware [1] |
| Occupations | Venture Capitalist, entrepreneur |
| Spouse | Amitha Prashanth |
| Awards | Padma Shri (2025) [2] |
Prashanth Prakash is an Indian entrepreneur and venture capitalist based in Bengaluru. [3] [4] He is the founding partner of Accel India. [5] [6] [7] He received the Padma Shri in 2025 from the Government of India for his contribution to trade and industry. [8]
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. [9]
Since 2004, he has been a venture capitalist for Indian startups. [10] [11] As a partner at Accel, Prakash has invested in Indian startups such as Flipkart, Ola, Freshworks, Book My Show, Swiggy and Bounce. [12] [13] [14]
In 2008, Prakash, along with Subrata Mitra and Mahendran Balachandran founded the Indian branch of the US venture capital firm Accel. [15] [16]
In 2021, he was appointed as an advisor to the Chief Minister of Karnataka, B. S. Yediyurappa. Prakash is also part of the Vision Group for Startups for the Government of Karnataka. [17] He is also part of the National Startup Advisory Council. [18] [10]
In October 2024, Prakash became the joint owner of the Bengaluru franchise team in the second season of the Global e-Cricket Premier League (GEPL). Nikhil Kamath is one of the joint owners with him. [19]
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. [20] [21] He is also the founding patron of the Longevity India initiative in IISc [22] and the co-founder of the UnboxingBLR Foundation. [23]
Prashanth has helped Sikshana, an organisation working to improve the education in schools, in expanding their work from 10 to 100 schools. [24] [25]
In 2021, Prashanth Prakash, in collaboration with other venture capitalists, established a ₹100 crore (equivalent to ₹112 croreorUS$13 million in 2023) COVID-19 fund [26] and created grants to encourage start-ups focused on developing products and services to tackle COVID-19 pandemic-related concerns. The investors did not take a stake in the sponsored ventures. [27]
Prashanth Prakash has co-authored a book titled Unboxing Bengaluru - The City of New Beginnings. [28] It was launched by the 22nd Chief Minister of Karnataka, Sri Siddaramaiah. [29]
