Thomson Financial, Prime Tie Up For Venture Capital Database

Thomson Financial of the US, the world's leading database on capital markets, has tied up with the Indian Venture Capital Association (IVCA) and Delhi-based Prime Database to create an internationally-benchmarked database of the Indian venture capital industry.

Thomson has been tracking the venture capital industry across the world since 1961. It is the sole database research provider to the US National Venture Capital Association, Japan's Ministry of International Trade & Industry, and scores of VC associations in countries including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia and Singapore, among others. Thomson products and services include VentureXpert, portfolio analysis, venture economics returns analysis, private equity performance database, and investment benchmark reports.

IVCA is the country's umbrella association of venture capital funds, with a mission to facilitate the growth of venture capital and private equity activities, including lobbying with the government on key regulatory issues.

Prime Database has been tracking the domestic primary capital market since 1989 and is currently offering information services on initial public offerings (IPOs), rights issues, overseas issues, debt private placements, mutual funds IPOs, open offers and buybacks. Its products are used widely in India and abroad by investment bankers, mutual funds, corporations, and government agencies.

According to a Prime Database release, despite the tremendous growth in this industry during the past 5 years, there is little reliable or updated data. Even on the number of firms or the total amount of VC investments made in India, there exists a huge variance. "For example, there are 4 different figures available on total investments by venture capital firms in India in the year 2000, these being IVCA at $1.2 billion, Nasscom at $950 million, UNDP at $342 million and Kanwal Rekhi of TIE at $700 million," the release said.

According to Prithvi Haldea, managing director of Prime Database, a comprehensive survey of the venture capital industry in India has now been launched by Prime. Survey forms have been sent to all domestic venture capital firms operating as well as those which are based abroad but invest in Indian firms. The Indian venture capital industry data, after this survey, would be available for the first time to worldwide users in a variety of formats. This includes Thomson's VentureXpert which is available both on the web and SDC Platinum. The key data and analysis will also be made available in print in the form of IVCA Yearbook-2001, according to Saurabh Srivastava, president of IVCA.

The strategic joint venture between Thomson, IVCA and Prime is set to make the private equity industry in India a booming success by allowing international investors to better structure their investment programmes with regard to venture capital firms based in India. The survey will, for the first time, validate venture fund industry data in the country and will provide a valuable tool to promote the venture industry.

Importantly, the survey will help create relationships of domestic VC firms with key international venture capital associations, investors and the press. It will allow for a better understanding of the VC investment trends in the country and most importantly develop industry performance benchmarks for fund managers and their constituencies.