Page 2 - Venture Capitalists

Garden of Joy raises Rs 84 lakh in seed round led by Inflection Point

Landscaping startup will use the money to expand in six cities in South India, develop technology

85% dip in top venture capital funding in 2023; hopes up for 2024

Over the past two years, prominent global VC firms have also divested from some of their investments

Filter Capital closes maiden fund at Rs 800 crore, aims to bolster growth

Technology-focused venture capital firm Filter Capital on Monday said its has secured Rs 800 crore funding for its maiden fund -- Filter Capital India Fund I. Indian institutional investors and family offices such as HDFC Fund of Funds, SIDBI, SRI Fund, Oister Global, DSP family office, Akash Prakash, the founder of Amansa Capital, and Harsh Jain, the CEO of Dream11 have committed to the fund, the VC firm said in a statement. "Filter Capital announced the successful final close of its first fund - Filter Capital India Fund I. The fund has secured a total corpus of Rs 800 crore," the statement said. Filter Capital is a growth investment firm which targets opportunities in SaaS and tech services where companies are expanding from India into regional and global markets, as well as technology-led businesses in consumer, financial, and business services, where companies are harnessing special demographics spanning Indian consumers and businesses. "This is the opportunity for Filter ...

PE, VC investments fall to $2.2 billion in Feb as big-ticket deals dry up

Private equity and venture capital investments declined to USD 2.2 billion in February, 39 per cent down when compared with the year-ago period's USD 3.7 billion, a report said on Thursday. On a month-on-month basis PE, VC investments have witnessed a decline of 67 per cent. The number of deals were higher at 120 transactions in February, as compared to 86 deals in January and 57 in February 2023, the report by industry lobby group IVCA and consultancy firm EY said. "This is the second lowest monthly total for PE/VC investments since February 2021. We remain cautiously optimistic as the election super cycle unfolds in India and globally, with many large economies going to the polls in 2024," the consultancy firm's partner Vivek Soni said. In February, there were seven large deals of USD 100 million or above aggregating to USD 1 billion, which is 82 per cent lower than the USD 5.7 billion in January 2024 and 66 per cent lower than the USD 3 billion in the year-ago period, the report

Saudi Arabia plans $40 billion investment in artificial intelligence

In recent weeks, representatives of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund have discussed a potential partnership with Andreessen Horowitz, one of Silicon Valley's top venture capital firms

Facebook co-founder's B Capital closes $750 mn fund for late-stage startups

It will make investments in companies specialising in technology, healthcare, climate technology

End of funding winter? Indian startups set to raise $8-10 billion this year

In 2022, Indian startups raised a total investment of $25 billion. In 2021 the fund raised a new high of $41.4 billion, according to Tracxn

PE/VC exits surge 36% to $24.8 bn in 2023 amid declining investments

The infrastructure sector emerged as the leader, attracting $11.6 billion in investments in 2023, while traditional favorites such as financial services and technology witnessed a decline

IPV to invest Rs 150-200 cr in startups, exits 14 firms with 61% return

Angel investment platform Inflection Point Ventures is planning to make fresh investments in the range of Rs 150-200 crore in startups this year, a senior company official said. The company announced partial and full exit from 14 firms with an average 61 per cent internal rate of return in 2023. "We have made a total investment of around Rs 750 crore till date out of Rs 1,200 crore fund. This year, we will be investing in the range of Rs 150-200 crore," IPV founder and CEO Vinay Bansal told PTI. He said the company has made 56 investments in 2023, comprising 46 new investments and around 10 follow-on investments. "We had 14 exits. One of the exits was that of 40 times multiple, and overall average IRR was 61 per cent," Bansal said. The company has a portfolio of about 200 companies. IPV fully exited three startups in 2023 -- Koovers, Sportido and a media startup. The company made the highest return of over 200 per cent from a full exit in the media venture. "We continue to stay

Cactus Venture Partners raises Rs 630 cr fund to invest in startups

Cactus Venture Partners on Wednesday announced that it has raised Rs 630 crore for its maiden fund to invest in early growth stage startups. This is the final close for the fund, which will invest in climate technology, health technology and business-to-business software as a service company backed by purpose-driven entrepreneurs. CVP will focus on Series A and early Series B fundraising stages, targeting companies that have established Product-Market Fit (PMF), a statement said. The statement said 60 per cent of the capital commitments have come from domestic sources, while the remaining are from international limited partners from the US, Singapore, EU, and the UK. Domestic backers include SIDBI, Self-Reliant India Fund, and the UP Startup Fund, it added. Its general partner Rajeev Kalambi said the support received underscores the growing confidence in the Indian startup ecosystem. The current portfolio includes five companies, and CVP is targeting to make an additional 8-10 .

PE/VC bets drop for second year, down 11% at $49.8 bn in 2023: Report

Investments by private equity and venture capital funds declined for the second consecutive year in 2023 after the "funding winter" impacted 2022, a report said on Wednesday. The dedicated funds poured in USD 49.8 billion across 853 deals in 2023, as against USD 56.1 billion in 2022 across 1,273 deals, the report by industry lobby IVCA and consultancy firm EY said. The overall activity declined 34 per cent in 2022, after the all-time high of USD 75.9 billion reached in 2021. The decline in deals was largely because of a lack of interest in investing in India's startups, the report said, specifying that 2023 saw only 472 deals as against 815 in the year-ago period. The funds have "significant amounts of dry powder" and global funds are also looking to increase India's capital allocation, the consultancy's partner Vivek Soni said, adding that he remains "optimistic" about the Indian PE/VC scene for the new year. In 2023, growth investments was the largest segment for PE/VC bets with

BlackRock slashes Byju's valuation by 95% from $22 bn to $1 bn: Report

Tech investor Prosus NV valued Byju's at under $3 billion in November last year after BlackRock cut its valuation to about $8.4 billion in May

REC to issue multiple-tenor bonds to raise up to 10 billion rupees

REC plans to raise up to Rs 1,000 cr ($120.43 million), including a greenshoe of Rs 500 crore billion, through bonds maturing in over three years

Great time to be deploying capital, will be busy in 2024: Fundamentum GM

Focus on technological edge and prudent deployment

Inflows from PE, VC funds to domestic companies plunge to $27.9 bn in 2023

Investments from private equity and venture capital funds into domestic companies declined about 40 per cent to USD 27.9 billion so far this year, while the outflow increased marginally to USD 19.34 billion year-on-year. According to the numbers collated by Venture Intelligence that tracks private capital and debt flows, and industry body IVCA, investments by private equity and venture capital funds as of December 20, 2023, fell to a low of USD 27.9 billion across 697 transactions, as against USD 47.62 billion inflows in 2022 across 1,364 deals. The year also saw more money being pulled out from the country by private equity players with overall exits touching USD 19.34 billion from 248 companies as against 233 exists worth USD 18.45 billion in 2022, according to the data. Industry watchers, however, said green shoots of more funding is very much visible in the coming year. The funding slowdown this year is a temporary adjustment, and as we move forward, we expect renewed and robus

Dry powder decoded: What it means to investors and the financial ecosystem

Dry powder refers to the cash reserves maintained by corporations, private equity funds, and individual investors for strategic investments or during an economic downturn

India has $20 bn dry powder waiting to be invested: Peak XV MD Anandan

Says investors are looking to invest unallocated capital in sectors like AI

Indian-American VC urges govt to reduce rules, regulations for startups

A top Indian-American venture capitalist from Silicon Valley has urged India to create a short-term inter-ministerial commission to review the rules and regulations governing the startups to facilitate them to be the next Google and Facebook of the world. The (Indian) government should focus on reducing the compliance burden on startups and businesses, Venkatesh Shukla, the former president of TiE Silicon Valley, told PTI in a recent interview here in California. I think the most important thing he could do is to create either a short-term commission or a committee, inter-ministerial, inter-departmental, to take a fresh look at the rules and regulations governing startups across all departments and figure out what makes sense and what is just a nuisance without adding a whole lot of value to the country, he said. A seed-stage investor, Shukla is the founder and general partner of Monta Vista Capital and has a proven track record of leading companies through rapid growth in his roles

US Prez nominates Indian American global venture capitalist to IDFC Board

President Joe Biden has nominated prominent Indian-American global venture capitalist Deven Parekh as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Development Finance Corporation, a development finance institution and agency of the US government. Parekh, the managing director at software investment firm Insight Partners, was nominated for the post last week. His nomination will be for a period of three years, the White House said in a press release on Friday. By statute, the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) Board of Directors includes four members recommended to the President from Senate and House leadership. "Parekh is the nominee recommended by the Senate Majority Leader," the press release said. In 2020, Parekh was nominated to the Board of Directors of the DFC by then-President Donald Trump. The global venture capitalist is a Board Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, NYU Langone, the Tisc

Venture capital firm Anicut invests Rs 133 cr in TAO Digital Solutions

Venture capital firm Anicut Capital has invested Rs 133 crore in US-based TAO Digital Solutions through private credit fund, GAF-4, the investment company said on Friday. Launched in the first quarter of the current fiscal, GAF-4 is Anicut's third private credit fund having a size of Rs 1,000 crore with a green-shoe option of Rs 500 crore. "Anicut Capital invests Rs 133 crore in TAO Digital Solutions through Private Credit Fund," the statement said. The funds shall be utilized by TAO Digital Solutions to acquire TriGeo Technologies to expand its Digitization services, Anicut Capital said in a statement. TAO Digital Solutions (TAO) is an IT services company that operates on a global delivery model with offices in the US, Canada, India, Australia and Nigeria. "We are extremely delighted with the financing received from Anicut Capital. This will play a pivotal role in elevating our offerings to our customers and help us take the next leap in our journey. With the acquisition of TriGe