Venture capital investments in India hit record high this year - research

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Venture capital investments in India have hit a record high of $1.44 billion so far this year, surpassing the $1.17 billion for the whole of 2014, driven by a surge in early stage funding, research firm Venture Intelligence said on Thursday.

Venture capital investments were particularly active in July-September, hitting a quarterly record of $536 million, Venture Intelligence added.

Among the big deals last quarter was a $20 million investment in mobile-based news provider News in Shorts from hedge fund Tiger Global, according to the research firm.

The data focuses on investments of not more than $20 million each by financial investors into companies that are less than 10 years old.

That would exclude some major recent fundraising deals, including a $500 million investment into Indian online retailer Snapdeal by firms including China's Alibaba Group Holding.

(Reporting by Rafael Nam; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)