Prashanth Prakash
Indian entrepreneur
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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]
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] |
Career
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]
Philanthropy
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 crore or US$12 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]
Bibliography
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]
Awards and honours
- Padma Shri (2025) for contributions in trade and industry.[30][8]
- Social Impact Leader 2021 for his philanthropic work by ASSOCHAM.[31]