Private Equity

Private Equity Fund Investments

PE Investments vault 52% to record $49 Billion during first 9 months of 2021

 

Private Equity - Venture Capital (PE-VC) firms invested a record $49 Billion (across 840 deals) in Indian companies during the first 9 months of 2021, shows early data collated from the Venture Intelligence PE-VC Deal Database. These figures, which have already surpassed the full year investment total of $39.5 Billion (across 892 deals) in the entire of 2020, represent a 52% increase over the $32.2 Billion (across 651 deals) in the first nine months of 2020. (Note: These figures include Venture Capital type investments, but exclude PE investments in Real Estate). The $20 Billion investments in Unicorns (VC-funded startups valued at $1 Billion or more) account for close to 41% of the value pie in 2021 thus far. The July-September 2021 quarter (Q3'21) saw over $10 Billion (across 28 deals) being invested in such companies. India has minted a total of 29 Unicorns in the first 9 months of 2021, 13 of which were anointed during Q3'21. PE-VC investments in Q3'21 - at $20.1 Billion across 368 deals - rose by 35% compared to the immediate previous quarter (which saw $14.9 Billion across 231 deals) and 69% compared to the same period last year ($11.9 Billion across 211 deals). Q3'21 witnessed 40 mega deals ($100M+ rounds) worth $15.9 Billion, compared to 15 such investments worth $9.9 Billion (topped by Reliance Retail Ventures) in Q3'20. The latest quarter saw three Billion Dollar deals led by e-commerce giant Flipkart's $3.6 Billion Pre-IPO round (which marked the return of Japan's SoftBank Corp to its cap table since its exit to Walmart in 2018). This mega deal, which accounted for around 18% of the total investment in Q3'21, was followed by BPO firm Hinduja Global Solutions' sale of its healthcare services business to Baring Private Equity Asia for $1.2 Billion. Also, Blackstone acquired a controlling stake in the wealth management focused ASK Group for $1 Billion. New Edtech unicorn Eruditus' $650 million round and merchant commerce platform Pine Labs' $600 million fundraise took the fourth and fifth spots respectively during Q3'21.