VC investments, deals grew in India in Q1 despite fall in global activity

NEW DELHI: Both venture capital (VC) investment and the number of VC deals grew in India in the first quarter (Q1) this year, from $1.6 billion across 313 deals (Q4, 2023) to $3.2 billion across 354 deals in Q1 2024, a report showed on Monday.

Fintech continued to attract good attention, although at smaller deal values, according to the ‘KPMG Private Enterprise Venture Pulse’ report.

“As expected, India has seen an uptick in VC investments despite the deal activity being muted in Asia,” said Nitish Poddar, Partner and National Leader, Private Equity, KPMG in India.

“This will only increase in the coming quarters given our robust GDP growth, strong demographics and expectation of stable government at the Centre. AI, power tech, health tech and agritech are some key sectors to watch out for,” he added.

Meanwhile, global VC investment fell slightly from $83.8 billion across 9,458 deals in Q4 2023 to $75.9 billion across 7,520 deals in Q1 this year amid geopolitical tensions, the extended drought in exits among VC-backed companies, and a continued pullback in investment at later deal stages.

VC investment dropped in both the Americas and Asia this quarter, while it rose in Europe, the report mentioned.

The Americas accounted for almost half of global VC funding in Q1 ($38.2 billion across 3,205 deals) — with the US accounting for the vast majority of this amount ($36.6 billion across 2,882 deals).

Meanwhile, Asia-Pacific attracted $18.9 billion across 2,305 deals, while Europe saw $17.9 billion across 1,798 deals, the report said.

“Given how dry the exit environment has been for the last 18 months, it’s no surprise VC investors are being very conservative in their deal-making right now,” said Conor Moore, Global Head, KPMG Private Enterprise, KPMG International.