American venture capital firm Matrix Partners on Tuesday began its operations in Bangalore with an aim to promote 17 of the 27 technology companies it has invested in.
A successful entrepreneur and now an investor, Avnish Bajaj, the managing director of Matrix Partners India, has seen both sides of the investment cycle.
Venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) funding for Indian startups in the artificial intelligence sector has seen a dramatic decrease with deal sizes shrinking, notwithstanding the buzz around the country's potential as a major AI hub. Data from research agency Traxcn, which tracks PE/VC investments, shows that total funding for AI startups in India, which started with a bang in 2022 at $599 million, dropped sharply in 2023 to $168.4 million - a decrease of over 71 per cent.
Ola Electric, the SoftBank-backed electric vehicle (EV) maker, is likely to pursue a valuation of approximately $4.5 billion in its upcoming initial public offering (IPO), marking about 18 per cent decrease from its last funding round valuation of around $5.5 billion, according to industry sources. The Bhavish Aggarwal-founded firm aims to file for the IPO by next month, according to people familiar with the matter. "The strategy is to price the IPO attractively for investors, fostering long-term growth and wealth creation," said a source.
The Indian entrepreneurship success story will soon see one more company debuting on the public markets. Ola Electric, the electric vehicle (EV) company, has become the first such firm that has filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India for its initial public offering (IPO). This is a fresh issue of equity shares of up to Rs 5,500 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of more than 95 million equity shares at a face value of Rs 10.
Foreign investment in India's start-ups has plummeted 72 per cent to $4.58 billion so far, from $16.2 billion during the same period last year.
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.
Start-ups don't care that mad-money funding comes to a hard stop after an IPO, observes Debashis Basu. As a listed entity, corporate actions have to take the interests of all shareholders, especially minority shareholders, into account. So far, we are not seeing any sign of it, observes Debashis Basu.
The company has said the funds raised will be used to invest in product development and expansion of its fast-growing mobile business.
Of the 1,145 offers made this year, consulting firms made up 34 per cent, followed by banking, financial services and insurance, pharma/healthcare, IT/ITeS and FMCG/retail.
To create a community, the consumer can share the details of the offer with friends and family who want to buy the same goods.
Credit Vidya helps lenders assess credit and fraud risk for thin-file and new-to-credit customers.
As the tides of investments change over time, venture capital funds are shifting their focus to businesses related to consumer demand such as education, media and entertainment, food & beverages and alternative energy.
Even as the gaming industry battles multiple regulations in different Indian states, it has received more than double the amount of investment this year compared to 2020. Industry watchers attribute this to the growing popularity of gaming, spurred by the pandemic, and the innovative business models gaming firms have built. According to data from industry tracker Venture Intelligence, investment in India's gaming sector in 2021 has more than doubled to $794 million, as against a total investment of $339 million last year. In 2019, this number was $176 million. Marquee investors such as Tiger Global (Dream11), Sequoia Capital India (Mobile Premier League), WinZO (Griffin Capital Partners), Tencent (Dream11) and Matrix Partners (Zupee) have pumped money into the sector.
Indian start-ups are likely to experience a fillip as around 40 US venture capitalists and private equity holders have already lined up $400 million to invest in the country.
IPO-bound mobility platform Ola, said it has successfully raised $500 million via a Term Loan B (TLB) from marquee international institutional investors. This term loan has no impact on the valuation of Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola. The Bengaluru-based firm recently raised $139 million. This is part of a $1 billion funding round for which the company is in talks with investors, increasing its valuation to about $7.5 billion, according to the sources.
Garnett & Helfrich, a US-based specialist venture buyout firm, has reversed its decision to set up a dedicated office in India.
Moods Hospitality Ltd, which runs the Chinese fast food chain Yo China, plans to invest Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) by 2010-11 to open 200 more outlets across the country.
Five Star Business Finance is in the business of providing loans to MSME entrepreneurs. Gireesh Babu finds out more about the company that plans to grow to 3,000 crore by 2020.
.jpg)
From an idea inititated in a hostel room, Hearing Plus went on to become a national chain of hearing treatment clinics.
A dip in 'dream job' applications could also mean that students are bagging their desired offers in the first go itself.
Ola was supposed to expand to the Netherlands, Kenya, Dubai, Israel, and Brazil.
Ola commits to invest $100 mn in Vogo, to bring scooter-sharing to its app, reports Alnoor Peermohamed.
The ban on taxi aggregators can put at risk investments of at least Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion), made by private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) investors.
Ola Cabs acquires TaxiForSure in $200-mn deal.
IIM-A saw 36 per cent jump in maximum domestic salary in 2018 placements this year.
Mumbai-based start-up Purple Squirrel Eduventures is helping students decide on their careers through industrial visits
With the help of Practo Ray, doctors can share reports.
They encouraged start-ups to pay for acquiring customers rather than focusing on the business fundamentals.
In the past three weeks, early-stage venture capital firm Matrix Partners has invested in three start-ups.
With aggressive brand-building initiatives, the companies' advertising budgets ahead of Diwali is understood to have seen a 15% spike
People move from investment banking to growth equity or from venture capital to growth equity or entrepreneurship, depending on what's attractive at different points of life.
Meru Cabs' founder says they were a traditional company.
There are about 600,000 taxis in India, generating combined annual revenue of about Rs 11,000 crore (Rs 110 billion).
OlaCabs' hyper-growth and an ambitious plan to expand to 100 cities by the end of 2015 are perhaps what attracted Japan's richest man, Masayoshi Son, chairman of telecom and media group SoftBank Corp, to announce an investment of $210 million (around Rs 1,260 crore) in the company.
Access to capital for sub-standard companies is on the decline
The past few years have seen the first cycle of mergers and acquisitions, exits, and track-records being created.
In India, where it is tougher to do business, a start-up gets established by the Series-B stage, and it gets expensive for investors.
None of the top five start-ups launched by IITians - Flipkart, Zomato, Ola Cabs, Housing.com and Inmobi - were incubated at IITs
Second hand goods are catching up with customers on renown shopping websites.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances