Venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) funds had, in 2024, taken bets on traditional businesses rather than tech-first domains like consumer tech, software as a service (SaaS) and software. According to data from Bain & Co, Pitchbook, Venture Intelligence, VCC Edge and AVCJ, prominent VC funds like PeakXV saw their share in this traditional space go up sharply from 14 per cent in 2023 to 23 per cent in 2024.
'Many were caught in a burnout race, chasing unsustainable growth without innovating.'
At least 14 of the top 20 venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) funds in India reduced new deals with start-ups by a fifth in 2022. The number fell from 572 in 2021 to 456 this year, according to data from Venture Intelligence. Sequoia Capital, a leader in investments, retained its top slot but its number of deals fell from 110 in 2021 to 70 this year.
With regulatory uncertainties clouding the future of online pharmacies, deals in the space are showing signs of slowdown, as also fresh investment from private-equity (PE) firms and venture capitalists (VCs). The data from Venture Intelligence shows so far in 2023 (as of June 13) there has been one deal with PE-VC funding. In 2022 there were four, a sharp fall from the 12, totalling $1,520 million, the sector had attracted in 2021.
IT and ITeS companies accounted for $28.1 billion of the total investment pie during the first nine months of 2021.
Since the Centre tightened the Press Note 3 norms in April last, as many as 150 private equity/venture capital investment applications from China and Hong Kong are pending with the government, starving the country's start-up ecosystem of funds, says a report. The Press Note 3 (PN3) changes were effected in April, restricting foreign direct investment from countries that share land borders with India. Analysts are of the view that the move was primarily aimed at China as lot of private funds were investing billions into domestic companies.
The drop was the result of the change in FDI rules, which was amplified by the border standoff between India and China.
Investments totaling over $9.5 billion in Jio Platforms by a clutch of private equity firms, following social media giant Facebook's $5.7 billion mid-April investment in the company, helped overall.
In 2019 investors backed some of the major online healthcare and pharmacy retailers, with PharmEasy leading the deal list. The firm raised funds through the year to bring in around $220 million and the round is yet to be concluded, according to Venture Intelligence data.
US hedge fund Tiger Global and Japanese investment giant SoftBank have trimmed their investments in Indian start-ups by over a third - from $3.8 billion in the second half of 2021 to a mere $1.08 billion in H1 2022, according to data from Venture Intelligence. While SoftBank's investments in India dropped from $1.9 billion in H2 2021 by more than a fifth to only $0.33 billion in H1 2022, that of Tiger Global fell from $1.92 to $0.74 billion in the same period. Private equity (PE) fund trackers point out that this year most of the deals that Tiger Global has invested in are in the early stage (up to series D), and only a few are in the series E and above.
Venture Intelligence data shows that during January to July 2020, investors infused $998 million in 31 deals. The total number of deals reported in 2019 was 42 worth $404 million.
The Indian startup ecosystem recently celebrated the 100th unicorn milestone. It came after a month of no big fund announcements. Compare this to 2021, when three to four unicorns were being added every month. Nevertheless, the 100th unicorn needs to be celebrated since the first unicorn was announced in 2011 - 11 years ago.
Fund managers said investors remained positive on the pharma manufacturing activity in India, which further strengthened during the Covid-19 period, on account of restrictions imposed on pharma imports from China.
Education topped the table with nearly $1.755 billion as against $379 million last year, followed by real estate which received $754 million.
With 16 start-ups gaining unicorn status in 2021, India's tally has touched the 50 mark. The newest entrant to this list include Pune-based MindTickle, which is close to finalising a $100-million funding round from Softbank's Vision Fund 2, taking the company's valuation to $1.1 billion.
Private equity firms invested about USD 3.7 billion across 133 deals during the first quarter of 2018 as compared to USD 7.3 billion by way of 200 transactions a year ago.
Nearly half of the investments by various US-based investors have been made in Reliance subsidiary Jio.
Their startup investments number 13 so far, compared to 17 deals in 2020.
Private equity investors have taken fancy in infrastructure projects of the country and invested over Rs 13,000 crore (Rs 130 billion) during 2007, according to a report 'Private Equity Impact 2008' released by Venture Intelligence.
While 2017 was a record year for private equity investments in India after $23.5 billion in 660 deals, 2018 too has begun with a bang.
The new PN3 norms and lack of clarity on what constitutes beneficial ownership are the primary reasons for the decline in investments from China and Hong Kong.
While BlackRock is an existing investor in Byju's, T Rowe joined as a new investor.
Deals shrink to $396 million this year, compared to $793 million in 2011.
The country's top three venture debt firms -- Alteria Capital, Innoven Capital, and Trifecta Capital -- combined deployed about $300 million (Rs 2,200 crore) in start-ups such as BigBasket, Cure.fit, Ninjacart, Dunzo and Lendingkart till April end, according to the government's Investindia website.
Becoming a unicorn is surely a marker for a company in its growth story, but it's not a major achievement nor is it a turning point of any significant worth.
There seems to be no dearth of funds to fuel this growth, report Peerzada Abrar and Shivani Shinde.
According to Venture Intelligence, a research service focused on private company transactions, PE firms invested $8,853 million this year, compared to the $10,378 million across 483 deals a year ago.
The pandemic has confined students across all ages to home and digital education is the only way to continue learning.
According to the PwC MoneyTree India report, a quarterly study of private equity investment activity based on data by Venture Intelligence, private equity PE firms invested $2.5 billion across 97 deals in Q3 of 2012, against USD 2.4 billion from 121 deals a year ago.
Private equity investments in the January-March quarter of the 2011 calendar year were about 57 per cent higher than the $ 2.1 billion worth of PE investment registered in the year ago period and more than double October-December's $1.5 billion, according to data provider Venture Intelligence.
According to Venture Intelligence, PE/VC investors have already invested $93 million in 10 education companies so far in 2011, led by a Rs 100 crore (about USD 22 million) investment in vocational training and placement firm Teamlease Services.
In the April-June quarter this year USD 2,916 million was invested across 112 deals, while last quarter saw an infusion of USD 3,361 million across 91 deals, according to a study by Venture Intelligence, a research service focused on Private Equity and M&A transaction activity in the country.
$47.6 bn capital invested across 921 deals in India in 2020, despite pandemic.
Private equity investments in India have touched an over one-year high of $2 billion in the January-March quarter of 2010, an increase of 19 per cent over the previous quarter. Private equity firms invested about $2 billion across 56 deals during the quarter ended March 2010.
The average deal size has gone up from $7 million in 2009 to $12 million this year.
Investment by PEs into HLS sector dropped to $203 million in 2008-09 from $836 million in 2007-08, while the number of deals dropped 51 per cent to 21 from 43 deals. Similarly, VC investments also declined to $48 million from $80 million. In terms of deals, they dropped to 11 from 14.
Despite the positive sentiment returning in the VC space, investment si still low on an year-on-year basis.
Difficult fund raising conditions slowed the pace of private equity (PE) investments in the country by 64 per cent to a four-year low of $3.8 billion in 2009.
India's merger and acquisition scene for the first quarter of 2009 has been dismissal. Indian companies were involved in a total of 54 deals for this quarter--that is a decline of 60 per cent year-on-year and about 40 per cent drop on a sequential basis--says a Venture Intelligence report.
If you are an entrepreneur and apprehensive that the global market meltdown will strain your fund-raising plans, fear not. India-focused private equity and venture capital funds raised $7 billion (Rs 27,958 crore) in 2007, excluding real estate, last year. They had garnered a similar amount in the corresponding previous year, according to data from Venture Intelligence, a venture capital research company.
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