Reliance's Jio Platforms Raised $4.6 Bn in May, which's 85% of All PE/VC Investment in India

The month of May recorded investments worth $5.4 billion across 58 deals, with $4.6 billion invested in Jio Platforms, according to a report by IVCA-EY.

IVCA (Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association), which is India's apex association representing the interests of India's private equity & venture capital industry, together with Ernst & Young has released this report, which is a monthly PE roundup.

If not for Jio Platforms, PE/VC investments would have recorded a fourth straight month of decline, recording just US$791 million in investments, a 72% y-o-y decline and 15% lower than April 2020, the report said.

According to the report, the month of May 2020 saw almost double of Private equity and venture capital investments -- on year on year basis.

It is to be noted that in the first 5 months of 2020 there have been only US$1.5 billion worth of fundraises, 91% of which were raised in the first two months i.e. -- January & February (which is pre Lockdown), compared to US$4.6 billion raised in the same period last year.

[caption id="attachment_146269" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Source ~ IVCA.in[/caption]

Investments in May 2020 were 92% higher compared to May 2019 (US$2.8 billion) and 5.8 times the value recorded in April 2020 (US$935 million). However, 85% of the investments in May 2020 were due to the Jio Platforms PE deals aggregating US$4.6 billion, said the IVCA-EY report.

From a sector point of view, telecom sector (US$4.6 billion across four deals) emerged as the top sector due to Jio Platforms, followed by life sciences sector (US$354 million across four deals) which includes Carlyle’s buyout of 74% stake in SeQuent Scientific Limited for US$210 million and financial services (US$309 million across 16 deals).

PE-VC Investment in India Zooms to All-Time High of $8.3 Bn in July: Report

Private equity and venture capital investments in India crossed USD 8 billion in July -- the highest fund infusion in a month by PE/VC funds -- amid strong investment activity in infrastructure and real estate asset classes, a report said on Monday.

According to EY's private equity deal tracker, July 2019 recorded investments worth USD 8.3 billion across 106 deals against USD 1.8 billion in July 2018 through 70 deals.

"The USD 8.3 billion worth of PE/VC investments in India in July 2019 is the highest value of monthly investments by PE/VC funds ever recorded, eclipsing the previous historical monthly high of USD 7.1 billion invested in March 2019," said Vivek Soni, Partner and National Leader Private Equity Services, EY.

According to the report, strong investment activity in infrastructure and real estate asset classes drove the overall deal tally as there were USD 4.7 billion worth of mega deals in the infrastructure sector in July 2019.

"With this, the year to date cumulative PE/VC investments in the Indian infrastructure sector add up to USD 12 billion, which is greater than the total investments received by the sector in previous seven years put together," Soni said.

PE/VC investments in Indian infrastructure so far this year exceed the total PE/VC investment made in the next three largest sectors (financial services, real estate and technology), Soni said.

"On the back of these mega PE/VC investments in Indian infrastructure we are already at 90 per cent of the historical high PE/VC investments recorded in 2018. 2019 is well on its course to be the best year for Indian PE/VC investments," Soni added.

According to the report, Brookfield-Reliance Jio's USD 3.7 billion deal is the largest ever PE/VC deal in India, surpassing the USD 2.5 billion investment made by Softbank in Flipkart in 2017.

Baring PE Asia's USD 800 million buyout of Citius Tech was the other major deal during July.

July 2019 recorded 14 large deals (deals of value greater than USD 100 million) aggregating USD 7 billion compared to three large deals worth USD 402 million in July 2018. PTI DRR

PE, VC Investment in Indian Tech Startups at $20.5 Bn in 2018

Private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) investments in the country stood at USD 20.5 billion across 786 transactions in 2018 on account of tech-enabled start-ups, e-commerce and information technology-enabled services, according to a report by Grant Thornton.

The funding in 2018 was the same as the investment in year 2017, the assurance, tax and advisory firm said.

"The top trending themes during the year were revival of start-ups, continued uptick in control deals and larger bets, and increased focus of sovereign wealth funds towards Indian assets. Start-ups accounted for 59 per cent of the total PE investments recorded in 2018 by values and 26 per cent by volume," said Vrinda Mathur, partner, Grant Thornton India LLP.

In terms of the size of investments, the sharp increase in the PE and VC funding was due to 47 deals valued at USD 100 million or greater, including six deals worth over USD 500 million. Big-ticket investments were driven by complex deal structures, PE-backed merger and acquisition, later-stage funding and the inflated start-up valuations, it said.

Further, the report said it is not unusual to witness high levels of public spending in election years and it may push investments in rural and infrastructure-related sectors in the near term.

The core sectors may not get impacted as most mid-market investments take a long-term bet on growth potential, the report said.
Consequently, PE deal volumes are expected to pick up in the second half of the year with 2020 expected to be the year of the highest volumes of PE investments.

The report focuses on the PE and VC industry in India and has been produced in association with the Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (IVCA), an organisation that works towards promotion of PE and VC firms. 

E-commerce and Consumer Internet Startups Raised over $7 Bn in 2018

E-commerce and consumer Internet companies have raised over $7 billion (~ ₹ 4,89,00,00,00,00 ) in private equity and venture capital funds in 2018, says a report by EY.

Of the total investment, startups such as Oyo, Swiggy, Byjus, Paytm Mall, Pine Labs, Zomato, Udaan, Policybazaar and Curefit collectively raised the lions share of USD 4.6 billion in 2018, says the report.

The report covers sectors such as travel and hospitality, edutech, payments and wallets, fintech and healthtech, among others, as part of the e-commerce and consumer internet segment.

Also Read - Battery Storage, Smart Grid and Energy Efficiency Companies Raised $2.8 Bn in VC Funding in 2018

A few large deals included Walmart's acquisition of Flipkart for $16 billion, Alibaba's investment in Bigbasket and Paytm, Tencent's investment in Dream11, and Nasper's investment in Byjus and Swiggy.

"This massive opportunity has been unlocked by the increasing number
of digital transactions, digital literacy and the rise of rural
e-commerce, growing use of vernacular content, adoption of the
omni-channel strategy, low mobile data tariffs coupled with data-driven
personalization," says the report.

The stimulus provided by Digital India, Start-Up India and Make in
India also helped, it added and expects the trends in terms of
consolidation will continue in 2019 as well.

"Companies will need to consolidate to add more services and segments to expand the level of engagement with customers and leverage emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, blockchain and internet of things, among others, to service the market better," it said. 

A report last year revealed that blockchain startups in India have raised mere $5.3 million between January 2016 and April 2018, including & counting all funding options, sources, investment instruments etc.

Earlier this year, an another report by Venture Intelligence said that PE investments had already surpassed the previous high - $24.3 Billion across 734 deals in 2017 – in the first nine months of 2018, big ticket investments in Swiggy and Byju's towards the end of the year catapulted the year’s investment tally by 36% year-on-year.

PE/VC Investments At Record High of $8.7 Billion in Jul-Sep

In what could be considered as an excellent news coming in for the Indian startup industry, private equity/venture capital (PE/VC) investments in the ecosystem reached a whopping $8.7 billion in the September quarter, a figure which is significantly higher than what was recorded for the same period last year.

According to a report by research company Ernst and Young (EY), the sector saw its PE/VC investments for the quarter July-September increase from $3.1 billion in the same period last year to a record high $8.7 billion this year. The report highlighted that this sharp increase was largely courtesy the big-ticket transactions that took place over the said period.

In total, the ecosystem witnessed a total of nine $200-million-plus deals in the July-September 2017 quarter, with SoftBank’s $2.5 billion investment in Indian ecommerce giant Flipkart being the largest PE investment ever recorded in the Indian subcontinent.

In August, Flipkart raised the second portion of its Series J funding from SoftBank Group. The $2.5B investment by the Japanese telecom and internet giant was a part of its $93 billion Vision Tech Fund, which is considered as the world's biggest private equity fund.

The EY report further revealed that not only did PE/VC investments saw a sharp jump in the July-September quarter, but the period also saw record exits for PE players and the largest IPO exits ever recorded in the history of Indian startup ecosystem.

According to the report, exists registered on a year-on-year basis saw an increase of a staggering 128 per cent in value terms at $4.7 billion across 65 deals. The EY report noted that this number was largely driven by exits via open market, secondary sale and IPOs.

The quarter also recorded the largest IPO exits ever with Fairfax selling its 12 per cent stake in ICICI Lombard for a celebratory $558 million.

Speaking to PTI, Vivek Soni, partner and leader for PE Advisory, EY said, “India is clearly maturing as a PE market, with bigger and complex deals becoming more common. Greater numbers of large deals and buyouts support this thesis, and it is clearly visible in the third quarter 2017 investment numbers.”

Commenting on the increase in the number of IPO exits and exits of PE players, Soni added, "The good news is that there is a massive amount of dry powder available globally and most global funds are now keenly looking at India for investment opportunities. The compulsion of corporate India to deleverage by selling assets is expected to add momentum to the growth of buyout deals in India.”

In August, another EY report had highlighted PE/VC investments in the Indian subcontinent had reached a record USD 11.2 billion in the first half of this calendar year. This meant, the country witnessed a whopping 41 per cent increase over last year driven by some big ticket deals.

This development was first reported in Business Standard.

PE/VC Investments At Record High of $8.7 Billion in Jul-Sep

In what could be considered as an excellent news coming in for the Indian startup industry, private equity/venture capital (PE/VC) investments in the ecosystem reached a whopping $8.7 billion in the September quarter, a figure which is significantly higher than what was recorded for the same period last year.

According to a report by research company Ernst and Young (EY), the sector saw its PE/VC investments for the quarter July-September increase from $3.1 billion in the same period last year to a record high $8.7 billion this year. The report highlighted that this sharp increase was largely courtesy the big-ticket transactions that took place over the said period.

In total, the ecosystem witnessed a total of nine $200-million-plus deals in the July-September 2017 quarter, with SoftBank’s $2.5 billion investment in Indian ecommerce giant Flipkart being the largest PE investment ever recorded in the Indian subcontinent.

In August, Flipkart raised the second portion of its Series J funding from SoftBank Group. The $2.5B investment by the Japanese telecom and internet giant was a part of its $93 billion Vision Tech Fund, which is considered as the world's biggest private equity fund.

The EY report further revealed that not only did PE/VC investments saw a sharp jump in the July-September quarter, but the period also saw record exits for PE players and the largest IPO exits ever recorded in the history of Indian startup ecosystem.

According to the report, exists registered on a year-on-year basis saw an increase of a staggering 128 per cent in value terms at $4.7 billion across 65 deals. The EY report noted that this number was largely driven by exits via open market, secondary sale and IPOs.

The quarter also recorded the largest IPO exits ever with Fairfax selling its 12 per cent stake in ICICI Lombard for a celebratory $558 million.

Speaking to PTI, Vivek Soni, partner and leader for PE Advisory, EY said, “India is clearly maturing as a PE market, with bigger and complex deals becoming more common. Greater numbers of large deals and buyouts support this thesis, and it is clearly visible in the third quarter 2017 investment numbers.”

Commenting on the increase in the number of IPO exits and exits of PE players, Soni added, "The good news is that there is a massive amount of dry powder available globally and most global funds are now keenly looking at India for investment opportunities. The compulsion of corporate India to deleverage by selling assets is expected to add momentum to the growth of buyout deals in India.”

In August, another EY report had highlighted PE/VC investments in the Indian subcontinent had reached a record USD 11.2 billion in the first half of this calendar year. This meant, the country witnessed a whopping 41 per cent increase over last year driven by some big ticket deals.

This development was first reported in Business Standard.

PE/VC Investments Jump 41% To Record 11 Bn In H1 2017

According to a recent report furnished by multinational professional services firm EY, private equity and venture capital (PE/VC) investments in the Indian subcontinent have reached a record USD 11.2 billion in the first half of this calender year. This means, the country witnessed a whopping 41 per cent increase over last year courtesy some big ticket deals.

The EY report revealed that PE/VC investments from January to June this year were locked in at USD 11.2 billion, which is the highest ever investments recorded during the first six months of a year. The PE/VC investments recorded for January-June 2016 was USD 8 billion.

Commenting on the report's findings, EY Partner and Leader for PE Mayank Rastogi said, "India is clearly maturing as a PE market with bigger and more complex deals becoming more common place. Greater numbers of big size deals and buyouts are both a testament to this and it is clearly visible in the first half of 2017 investment numbers."

According to the report, the January-June period witnessed a total of 26 deals of value USD 100 million and above, aggregating to USD 7.7 billion. This made up for 68 per cent of investments during the period.

Rastogi believes that blockbuster exits registered in the Indian startup sector might have played a significant role in reaffirming private equity funds confidence in their India thesis.

The report highlighted that the Indian startup sector saw an year-on-year increase of a good 53 per cent in value and 50 per cent in volume at USD 4.8 billion across 129 deals. This was courtesy record exits paved by open market and secondary exits.

Rastogi further noted that private equity owned companies have acquired a global reputation of driving greater revenue and margin growth leading to a multiplier effect on their larger eco-systems. "There is massive amount of dry powder available globally and most global funds are keenly looking for investment opportunities in India, " said Rastogi.

The report also found out that the first half of this year recorded a lot of action from Canadian pension funds who have been involved in some of the larger investments made during the year. They ended up investing more than USD 2 billion across six deals in the year gone by so far.

According to the EY report, financial services, technology and real estate sectors were the leading sectors in terms of investments in the January-June this year report.

While financial services saw USD 3.4 billion across 51 deals, technology recorded USD 1.9 billion across 69 deals. Softbank's USD 1.4 billion investment in Paytm played a crucial role in raising the stakes of the Indian financial services sector. Unfortunately, ecommerce investments saw another period of disappointing performance after a not so eventful 2016.

According to the report, with USD 617 million across 26 deals, Indian ecommerce investments decreased from 42 per cent in value and 51 per cent in volume terms in the January-June period of this year compared to the same period last year.