Close to 900 funding deals to be inked in 2015: Merisis

Of these, as many as 580 deals are expected to be in the under $1 million category

As many as 890 funding deals are expected to be signed in the telecom, media and technology space (TMT) in India this year, up from 515 deals last year, a Merisis Advisors report says.

According to the report, a bulk of these deals (580) is expected to be in the under $1 million category while those above $10 million and $100 million are forecast to be about 95 and 10, respectively, in 2015.

In the first half of 2015, 288 deals were seen in under $1 million category and 160 in the over $1 million range.

Some of the large funding deals this year include Ola's $400 million in April, Snapdeal's $500 million by Alibaba and others and Practo raising $90 million in August.

Compared with 2015, a total of 515 deals were inked in 2014 in the TMT space. Of this, 324 were in the under $1 million and 191 in the over $1 million brackets.

Over 430 funding deals were signed in 2013, the report said.

"The data clearly confirm our focus on the $10 million-plus deal size, we are also open to doing $5-10 million fund raising as it gives us the opportunity of working with young entrepreneurs with whom we would like to create a relationship too early on in the lifecycle," Merisis Advisors co-founder Sumir Verma said.

Asked if there was a saturation setting in in terms of funding opportunities, Verma replied in the negative.

"Not really. There are plenty of investment opportunities in India currently and for some time to come. However, macro conditions will decide investor appetite," he said.

Verma said investors look for companies disrupting an untapped market with technology driven solutions headed by a strong management.

"Some funds have focus on certain themes at various times ranging from hyperlocal to food-tech, but it largely comes down to whether or not there is a large enough market for the company's solution," he added.