Private equity and venture capital investments showed a consistent rise in terms of deal value and volume for the third week in a row, after falling below $100 million in mid-September.
Last week saw startups secure $265 million, propelled by a large-ticket debt transaction and a couple of mid-sized venture capital deals. That was a 30% increase from the week before, in which the total deal value stood at $203 million.
In another positive sign, deal volume last week recovered significantly as 24 PE/VC transactions were recorded in the five days, compared to 17 deals in the week before.
In the largest transaction last week, cross-border neobanking startup Zolve raised a warehouse debt facility of $100 million from US-based impact investor Community Investment Management.
The insurtech sector also saw two major deals last week, with InsuranceDekho and Onsurity raising Series B rounds.
InsuranceDekho’s funding round was also the second-largest transaction recorded last week. The startup, which raised $150 million in one of the largest Series A rounds in India earlier this year, secured another $60 million as a part of its ongoing Series B round from Venture Catalysts’s growth capital vehicle Beams Fintech Fund, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, BNP Paribas Cardif, through its Insurtech fund managed by European investment major Eurazeo and Yogesh Mahansaria Family Office.
VCCircle reported in August that InsuranceDekho was in talks to raise another round, with Beams Fintech Fund looking to lead the round.
Meanwhile, Onsurity Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which operates an eponymous insurtech startup, raised $24 million in a Series B funding round led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-sector investment arm of the World Bank Group. Existing investors Nexus Venture Partners and Quona Capital also participated in the funding round.
In April, VCCircle exclusively reported that IFC is likely to be investing $10 million in Onsurity.
A sizeable chunk of deals last week fell within the $10-20 million mark. Noteworthy deals included artificial intelligence (AI)-based IT management SaaS platform Superops.ai’s $12.4 million Series B funding round, co-led by American investor Lee Fixel’s venture capital firm Addition and March Capital; and elder care platform Age Care Labs’ $11 million pre-Series B funding round from fintech unicorn Zerodha’s investment arm Rainmatter Capital and proptech investment firm Gruhas.
In a recurring trend, small deals dominated last week as well, with 66% of deals involving less than $10 million.
Fixed-income investment platform Jiraaf secured $8.7 million in its Series B funding round co-led by Harmony Ventures and Accel as new and existing investors, respectively.
The mergers and acquisitions space, however, shrank in terms of transaction volume week-on-week, as four deals were inked last week as compared to six the week before. In none of the M&A transactions were the financial terms of the deal disclosed.
Aditya Birla Group-led carbon black supplier Birla Carbon acquired Belgium-based carbon nanotubes manufacturer Nanocyl SA last week.
French pharmaceutical company Virbac acquired Telangana-based vaccine manufacturer Globion, a joint venture between Lohmann Animal Health and Suguna Foods. While the value of the transaction was not disclosed, an individual in the know told VCCircle that it was expected to be around $100 million.
“Exciting news! Mint is now on WhatsApp Channels 🚀 Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest financial insights!” Click here!
Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
Updated: 15 Oct 2023, 05:34 PM IST