'Social venture firms invest USD 95 mn in India during 2015'

Social venture firms invested about USD 95 million in India during 2015 by way of 53 deals, registering a decline of 10.37 per cent in value terms over the previous year, says a report.
According to data from Venture Intelligence, the year 2014 had witnessed 49 such investments valued at USD 106 million.
The larger sized transactions during 2015 included the USD 15 million investment in Swarna Pragati Housing Microfinance (by investors including Zephyr Peacock, Omidyar Network, Aavishkaar Goodwell and Intellecap Impact Investment Network) and the LGT Venture Philanthropy led USD 8 million investment in dental clinic chain myDentist.
With 14 investments worth about USD 25 million, the Information Technology and IT-Enabled Services (IT & ITES) industry emerged as the favourite industry for investments among Social Venture Capital investors during 2015.

Education was the second favourite industry among Social VCs during 2015 attracting 11 investments worth USD 8 million (against 10 deals in 2014). Vocational focused companies attracted the most interest.
Impact Investments in the Banking, Financial Services & Insurance (BFSI) industry declined for the second year, attracting just four investments worth USD 19 million in 2015 (compared to six investments in 2014).

Among cities, companies headquartered in Bangalore retained its spot as the favourite among social VC investors during 2015 attracting 16 investments worth USD 23 million, followed by Mumbai based companies that accounted for nine investments worth USD 19 million and Delhi-based companies with 8 investments worth USD 27 million.

The report noted that India-dedicated VC funds in 2015 accounted for 16 deals worth USD 35 million compared to foreign funds which invested USD 17 million across 25 deals.
Moreover, the average investment size of India-dedicated funds was also larger at USD 2 million compared to USD 0.7 million of foreign funds, it added.