There are raining investments in Indian companies! Both private equity and venture capital investments in Indian companies have reached an all-time high in 2021, breaking all previous years’ records.
The Private Equity – Venture Capital (PE-VC) firms have so far invested a record $49 billion in Indian companies in 2021, across 840 deals, according to Venture Intelligence. It represents a whopping 52% YoY increase in PE-VC investments in India in the first nine months of 2021, compared to the same duration last year when investments totaled $32.2 billion across 651 deals.
Notably, PE/VC investments in India during the first 9 months of 2021 have already surpassed the total investments of $39.5 billion, which was recorded in 2020 across 892 deals. This indicates the unprecedented confidence of investors in Indian firms, especially in Indian startups.
Here are major highlights of VC investments in India 2021:
- Indian companies received a record $48.75 billion investments across 840 deals from private equity and VC firms during the first 9 months of 2021.
- The PE-VC investments in Q3 2021 surpassed $20 billion across 368 deals, with an impressive 35% QoQ and a whopping 69% YoY increase.
- A record 29 new Unicorns were born during the first 9 months of 2021, 13 of which entered ‘$1 billion club’ during Q3 2021.
- PE-VC firms invested approximately $20 billion in Unicorns during the first nine months of 2021, accounting for 41 percent of total investment in Indian companies in 2021 thus far.
- The VC investments in Unicorn startups totaled over $10 billion, across 28 deals, in Q3 2021.
- In Q3 2021, there were 40 mega deals ($100 million+ rounds) worth $15.9 billion, up from 15 mega deals worth $9.9 billion in Q3 2020. Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance Retail Ventures emerged as the biggest fund-raiser in 2020.
India’s e-commerce giant Flipkart led the top three billion-dollar deals that were made in the third quarter of 2021. In July 2021, Flipkart raised $3.6 billion at a post-money valuation of $37.6 billion. This is followed by the sale of Hinduja Global Solutions’ healthcare division to Baring Private Equity Asia for $1.2 billion. In August 2021, US private equity major Blackstone acquired a controlling stake in the wealth management-focused ASK Group for $1 billion. The fourth and fifth largest private equity investments in Q3 2021 include Eruditus’ $650 million Series E fundraise and merchant commerce platform Pine Labs’ $600 million fundraise, respectively.
IT & ITeS, BFSI (Banking, Financial Services & Insurance), and Healthcare & Life Sciences are the top three industries that have attracted the most investors. Investments in Indian crypto and blockchain startups have also increased a whopping 1,482% in the last five years.
The record increase in investment amount in Indian companies, especially startups, has made India attracting the eyeballs of many small to mid-size to big giants who, so far, have been skeptical about the sustainability of India’s growth story. Having 3 months to go still, it would be interesting to see if the total PE-VC investment in India touches $60 billion by end of this year.
