InnoVen Capital registers 25 pct YoY growth; commences China operations

InnoVen Capital, a venture debt and specialty lending business reported a 25 percent year-on-year (YoY) increase in the funding amount in 2017, as it disbursed USD 75 million during the calendar year, along with the launch of their office in China.

In its year-ending performance report for 2017, InnoVen Capital announced the addition of 22 new companies to its portfolio, including startups such as Blackbuck, Pepperfry, NestAway, ShopClues and Mswipe.

The latest performance report from InnoVen noted that funding activity accelerated during the latter half of 2017, along with a 100 percent increase in the average ticket size in H2-2017 over H1-2017, growing to average Rs. 20 crores versus the H1-2017 average of Rs. 10 crore.

This upswing in the funding amount and frequency was largely due to repeat business conducted with companies such as Oyo Rooms, Swiggy, Capillary Technologies, Rentomojo and Belong, as well as an increase in the number of deals conducted with some of the larger players in the start-up space.

Furthermore, InnoVen broke its own record of the largest venture debt deal conducted in the country by disbursing Rs. 100 crore to NASDAQ-listed Indian travel services provider Yatra.com.

The funding in 2017 brings the total amount of venture debt extended by InnoVen India since its inception to more than USD 270 million, through 165 transactions with over 110 companies.

The report noted that around 30 percent of the total debt funding disbursed by the platform in 2017 was towards B2B businesses, while B2C companies took the balance majority share of 70 percent, with key sectors being e-commerce, enterprise-tech, logistics, travel and food.

"2017 was a great year for us at InnoVen, as we broke through previously established milestones and set several new ones in the process. The growth that we've registered, be it in terms of funding amount, number of deals, or geographical expansion, has served to cement our standing as a leading venture debt firm in Asia and our underlining commitment to support innovative ideas and businesses," said Ashish Sharma, CEO - InnoVen Capital India.