VC investment hit five-month low in volume in February, says report

Angel investments have seen a 14-month low in volume

Venture capital investment activity has hit a five-month low in terms of the number of deals in February, while there was a slight increase in terms of value, over the previous month. 

The total number of investments during the month stood at 32, with an investment of $241 million as compared to $211 million in 40 deals in January, according to data and analysis firm Venture Intelligence. The investment was also higher on a year-on-year basis, against $160 million in 40 deals during February 2016.

"The activity or number of investments were 20 per cent lower compared to the same period last year, as well as the immediate previous month, and 36 per cent lower than the average activity levels witnessed in the October-December quarter," said a statement from Venture Intelligence.

The angel, seed, Series A, Series C and Series D investments were down compared to the previous months, while there was a minor increase in terms of number of investments into Series B. Angel investment has seen a 14-month low and declined to 21 deals during February 2017, compared to 49 deals during the same month of last year. 

The major investments during the month include a $54 million investment into CarTrade.com by existing investor Temasek and others; $30 million into Blackbuck from IFC, Accel India, Flipkart, Sands Capital and others; a $20 million fund infusion into Diagnostics services firm iGenetic Diagnostics from CDC-MEMG Fund; $15 million for UrbanLadder, a furniture e-commerce company, from SAIF, Sequoia Capital India, Kalaari Capital and Steadview; $15 million each for Clean Max Enviro Energy Solutions, an off-grid power generation firm, and True Balance, a mobile balance and recharge site, from IFC and SoftBank Corp and others.

Enterprise Software companies, including Cloud1 Enterprises, HyperTrack, Fyle Technologies, Belong and Sigtuple, continued to get favourable attention from investors in February, added Venture Intelligence.