VC FUNDING REPORT
Hunt on for mule bank accounts; Tata Digital pause on funding
The government is working with the central bank to catch mule accounts in India’s banking system and prevent fraud. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.
IVCA’s VC Council for 2024–26 to focus on boosting micro-VCs
The IVCA VC Council, led by industry experts, aims to elevate the Indian start-up ecosystem by fostering innovation, supporting micro-VCs.
Silicon Valley VC fund General Catalyst acquires Venture Highway; will deploy $1 billion in India
Venture capital fund General Catalyst is acquiring India-focussed early-stage investor Venture Highway to strengthen its India presence. As part of this move, Venture Highway—which has backed unicorns like Meesho and Moglix—will cease to exist and will transition into General Catalyst India. This comes in the backdrop of a larger reset in the global venture capital industry after the exuberance of the pandemic years.
Ice cream brand Hocco secures Rs 100 crore, valuation hits Rs 600 crore
Ahmedabad's Hocco has secured fresh funding of Rs 100 crore (approximately $12 million). Led by the founding Chona family and existing investor Sauce VC, the round valued Hocco at Rs 600 crore. The deal also attracted angel investors like Bollywood filmmakers Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar. The company projects revenue to reach Rs 200 crore by March 2025.
Brands by scions attract VC money; Ola Electric layoffs
Happy Monday! A new wave of brands founded by second generation entrepreneurs is snagging venture capital. This and more in today’s packed edition of ETtech Morning Dispatch.
VC funds take a shine to new gen’s D2C brands
Direct-to-customer (D2C) startups founded by scions of traditional business families are raking in venture funding across sectors like food, apparel, and wellness. Investors see these entrepreneurs' deep understanding of the business and connections in the supply chain ecosystems as a recipe for modernising legacy businesses.
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Sauce VC launches third fund eyeing a corpus of Rs 250 crore
New Delhi-based investment firm Sauce VC, which has backed new-age luggage brand Mokobara, healthy foods startup The Whole Truth and petcare firm Supertails, aims to raise Rs 250 crore for its third fund. This comes as D2C firms see growing interest from risk capital investors. The firm looks to back 15-16 consumer brands in their early stages.
Ecommerce in slow lane; PhonePe-BharatPe truce
Happy Monday! Online sales haven’t picked up during the final quarter of FY24, industry officials said. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.
PE/VC investments drop by 35% in April at $4.4 bn
In April, private equity and venture capital investments dropped by 35% to USD 4.4 billion compared to USD 6.8 billion in the previous year, as per a report by EY and IVCA. Despite this decline, the number of deals rose by 56%, totaling 98. The caution among investors is attributed to global uncertainties and ongoing Indian general elections. Large deals above USD 100 million decreased by 48% to USD 3.1 billion across nine deals.
View: Fund pool, more AIFs than buts
In 2015, when investment in AIFs was made permissible under the automatic route, rules on indirect foreign investment were also recalibrated. Downstream investments by companies were categorised based on the origin of invested capital. However, for AIFs, emphasis was placed on control over deployment of the capital, rather than the capital origin, indicating a nuanced regulatory approach to foreign investments under the extant framework.
Cards vs UPI; Byju’s advisory council dissolved
Happy Monday! UPI's ease of use is driving a shift to cashless payments, leaving debit cards behind. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.
Combating dark patterns; declining VC funds for female founders
Happy Thursday! The government will soon release a tool to help consumers fight manipulative ‘dark patterns’ used by websites. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.
VC funding for women-led startups declined in 2023: report
A new report reveals a decline in VC funding for women-led businesses in India. According to WinPe, a non-profit organisation focused on gender diversity in private equity, the share of funding going to female founders dropped to just 9.3% in 2023, compared to 14.7% in 2021.
Indian PE, VC investments decline 35 pc to USD 39 billion in 2023: Report
In 2023, Indian PE and VC investments declined by 35% to USD 39 billion. PE dropped by 18% to USD 29.6 billion, and VC saw a sharper decline. The report highlighted global investment trends and a surge in exit values.
India well-poised to get to $80-100 billion PE-VC deployment in 5 years: report
Private equity and venture capital firms remain cautious due to global macro conditions in 2024. India is expected to benefit from outsized capital allocation, reaching $80-100 billion in annual deployment over the next five years.
VC investment in India doubles to $3.2 billion across 354 deals in March quarter: report
Fintech attracted investor attention in the country though marked by smaller deal sizes with key transactions such as SK Finance ($160 million), and Perfios ($80 million).
Peak XV MD Piyush Gupta to leave VC fund
Piyush Gupta is a managing director at Peak XV Partners, based out of Singapore. While he is not directly involved in making investments for the fund, he led the team which helped the firm's portfolio companies in several aspects including fundraising, mergers and acquisitions.
PE/VC investments decline marginally in March quarter: Report
Private equity and venture capital investments in Mumbai declined by 1% to USD 13.5 billion in March 2024 quarter. The infrastructure sector led with USD 6.5 billion investments.
Surfs up! Mid-sized companies catch the PE/VC wave
Executives said the fresh round of investments is playing out for brands that are either occupying niches or already taking market share from established brands. The list includes Dairy Classic and NIC ice creams, SkinQ dermo-cosmetics, Grameen Kulfi, Fresh Press juices, Woodsmen Mountain Whiskey, Yu instant foods and Natch snacks, among others.
Tiger Global's VC fund closes 63% below target with $2.2 billion
Last week’s final close of Private Investment Partners 16 fund marks the first time a Tiger venture pool attracted less cash than the vintage that preceded it.
VCs in reset mode amid exit pressure; and other top tech & startup stories this week
While VCs haven’t really been busy closing deals over the past year or so, their performance has surely come under increased scrutiny as limited partners (LPs) or sponsors of funds ask for cash returns. The Indian venture market, which is now 15 years old, has been exit-starved and a prolonged downturn has exposed the state of the industry very clearly.
Smaller IPOs an alternative for shrinking VC exits: Blume report
According to a report from Blume, startups which are not seeing a lot of interest from growth investors, or hitting a growth ceiling and ‘feel better to build profitably than burn for growth’ should be exploring IPOs.
US lawmakers accuse VC firms of funding Chinese military-linked firms
Sequoia Capital China, Qualcomm Ventures and three other U.S. venture capital firms plowed at least $3 billion into Chinese tech companies that support Beijing's military and its repression of minorities in Xinjiang, a U.S. congressional report alleged on Thursday.
Video commerce startup Swirl secures $1.1 million in funding led by Shastra VC
Video commerce company Swirl secured $1.1 million in seed funding led by Shastra VC and angel investors from India, Middle East, and USA. The funds will be used to enter the $100+ billion US and UAE market, strengthen the product suite, and meet global demand.
India has to work on the levers around capital absorption and capital flow incentivisation: Gokul Chaudhri
Gokul Chaudhri, Tax Leader, Deloitte India, discusses the importance of tax reforms to attract capital flows, particularly in the areas of private equity, venture capital, and the start-up ecosystem. He emphasizes the need for predictability and certainty, including simplifying the capital gains regime. Chaudhri also highlights the significance of the energy transition and the role of green bonds and the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme in enabling capital absorption and flow. He references global events such as COP 28 and Davos, where India's growth and regulatory framework were recognized.
40% of VC-funded US unicorns valued below $1 billion in secondary markets
Aileen Lee, cofounder of seed venture capital firm Cowboy Ventures said more startups are likely to join the club where unicorn valuations will trade lower.
ET analysis: Is evergreening of loans evergreen?
For years, 'evergreening of loans' - throwing new loans to help a stressed or delinquent borrower repay old loans - has worried the regulator. Since rules prohibit lenders from doing this blatantly, some of them, mostly non-banking companies, had figured out a different way some years ago. They cut special deals with foreign credit funds, which bet on comparatively lower-rated bonds, to set up local alternative investment funds (AIFs).
VC fund Fireside Ventures to sell 1.9% stake in Mamaearth parent via block deal: Report
The VC firm is offering 61 lakh shares or 1.9% stake in the personal care products maker. The deal is expected to be worth Rs 230 crore. The floor price for the sale is set at Rs 368.7-384.1 a share, representing upto 4% discount from the current market price.
PE/VC investments decline to USD 3.4 billion in Oct: Report
Startup investments came in at USD 1.3 billion in October, more than double that of the year-ago period when the industry was passing through a funding winter. From a sectoral perspective, retail and consumer products led with USD 623 million of PE/VC investments across five deals, driven by the ADIA bet on Reliance Retail Venture.
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