Page 7 - Venture Capital

Atoms 3.0: Accel's 6-mnth pre-seed accelerator program, unveils 8 startups

The cohort receives up to $500,000 in funding, access to perks worth more than $5 mn from venture capital firm Accel's network partners, personalised mentorship

Venture capital major Accel aims to invest in 25 Indian startups: Prashanth

May launch India-focused fund in a few years

Facebook co-founder's B Capital closes $750 mn fund for late-stage startups

It will make investments in companies specialising in technology, healthcare, climate technology

End of funding winter? Indian startups set to raise $8-10 billion this year

In 2022, Indian startups raised a total investment of $25 billion. In 2021 the fund raised a new high of $41.4 billion, according to Tracxn

PE/VC exits surge 36% to $24.8 bn in 2023 amid declining investments

The infrastructure sector emerged as the leader, attracting $11.6 billion in investments in 2023, while traditional favorites such as financial services and technology witnessed a decline

Insurtech startup Bharatsure raises $1 million led by VC fund Capital-A

The company had previously raised $1.2 million in February 2022 which saw the participation of its existing investors

Sebi mulls liquidation flexibility for AIF, VCFs to deal with beyond tenure

Capital markets regulator Sebi on Monday proposed to provide flexibility to Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs), Venture Capital Funds (VCFs) and their investors to deal with unliquidated investments of their schemes beyond expiry of tenure. In its consultation paper, the regulator suggested that instead of launching a new liquidation scheme by AIFs, the same scheme itself can be allowed to continue with the unliquidated investments beyond their tenure for a certain period or dissolution period for fully liquidating their unliquidated investments. Additionally, the regulator proposed extending flexibility of the dissolution process to venture capital funds through migration to the AIF regime. At present, the option to launch liquidation scheme is available only to those schemes of AIFs which are under 'Liquidation Period'-- the period of one year following the expiry of tenure of the scheme for fully liquidating the scheme and not available to VCFs, irrespective of whether their ..

India share of venture capital funding lowest in 5 years, shows data

While the data shows that the world had 71 new unicorns (21 in Asia), India contributed only two of them, as compared with CY22 when it had 22

Angel investments in Indian startups maintain pace amid funding winter

Overall deal volumes among startups have hit the skids, investment activity among the country's most active angel investment networks has held relatively steady

India-focused VC funds continue to raise capital despite funding winter

As of December 2023, 185 India-focused VC funds are in the market, aiming to raise a combined capital target of $10.73 billion, according to Preqin

Agritech startup Fasal raises Rs 100 cr from investors to expand business

Agritech startup Fasal, which is into precision horticulture, on Friday said it has raised Rs 100 crore from investors to expand its business. Founded in 2018, Fasal leverages AI, crop sciences, and Internet of Things (IOT) to provide farm-level, crop-specific and crop-stage-specific intelligence, enabling resource optimisation and higher farm productivity. It also procures high-quality, traceable produce for an end-to-end optimised value chain play. In a statement, the company announced raising Rs 100 crore in its series-A funding round led by TDK Ventures and British International Investment (BII), with contributions from the ITI Growth Opportunities Fund, Navam Capital and Aureolis Ventures. The round also saw participation from all existing investors, including 3one4 Capital, Omnivore, Wavemaker Partners, Genting Ventures, and The Yield Labs Asia Pacific. Fasal plans to "allocate the funds to advance research and development, accentuating innovation in their proprietary farm ..

PE/VC investments dip to 43-month low of $1.6bn in November: Report

Investments by private equity and venture capital funds plummeted to a 43-month low of USD 1.6 billion in November, a report said on Tuesday. The investments were 69 per cent lower than the year-ago period and 60 per cent less than October, the report by industry's lobby grouping Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association (IVCA) and the consultancy firm EY said. By volume terms, there were 58 deals in November 2023 as against 106 in the year-ago period and 73 in October 2023, the report said. Based on the available data, the consultancy firm's partner Vivek Soni said he anticipates PE/VC investments for 2023 to come at 10-12 per cent below the USD 56 billion in 2022. "This fall has been primarily fuelled by a sharp contraction in startup investments and a drop in number of large deals on account of the widening bid ask spread between investor valuations and seller expectations," he added. In November, there were six large deals of value greater than USD 100 million, aggregat

Snacking brand Farmley raises Rs 56 crore from BC Jindal Group, others

Snacking brand Farmley has raised USD 6.7 million, about Rs 56 crore, in a funding round led by BC Jindal Group, a top company official said. Existing investors DSG Consumer Partners, Omnivore and Alkemi Partners also participated in the funding round. Farmley Co-Founder Akash Sharma told PTI that the company has raised USD 6.7 million which will be utilised in innovation, expanding distribution channel and brand building efforts. "These funds will play a pivotal role in fuelling our product innovation efforts, in diversifying distribution channels and in amplifying the brand building efforts. We would like to make people's snacking experiences more wholesome by operating on consumer first principles," Sharma said. He said the company registered a revenue of around Rs 150 crore in the financial year 2023 and has now touched an annual recurring revenue of Rs 300 crore. The brand recently onboarded Indian cricket team coach and former captain Rahul Dravid as its brand ...

Venture capital funds backing fewer women startups than men-led ones: Irani

Union Minister Smriti Irani on Friday hit out at venture capital funds for not backing women-led innovative startups, and instead taking bets on entities founded by men. The Union Minister for Women and Child Development said there are many women innovators in science and technology, but rued that their strides are not getting translated into commercial ventures. "Even today, risk taking by VCs for women-led initiatives which are based on innovation is far lower as compared to those by men," Irani said, addressing an event organised by MentorMyBoard. One has to check how many women do not become a part of the corporate boardrooms despite being innovative, she said. Irani acknowledged that her recent statement in Parliament opposing period leaves for women has caused an "uproar", but stuck to her stance saying allowing so will have deep concerns on privacy. "Can you imagine a scenario where the HR head of your company knows your menstrual cycle every month. Can you imagine the scen

Indian PE/VCs deliver higher returns than bourses, says Crisil report

"A key contributor to this success has been the PE-VC markets, which have risked capital and sown financial know-how," said the Crisil report

India has $20 bn dry powder waiting to be invested: Peak XV MD Anandan

Says investors are looking to invest unallocated capital in sectors like AI

Agilitas Sports secures Rs 100 cr Investment from Nexus Venture Partners

Sport comprises 16 per cent of the Indian footwear market and is the fastest-growing segment

Venture capital Sauce.vc acquires around 3% stake in GRM Foodkraft

Basmati rice company GRM Overseas on Monday said it has sold more than 3 per cent stake in its subsidiary GRM Foodkraft to venture capital fund Sauce.vc for an undisclosed amount. Sauce has also acquired an additional 1 per cent stake from other shareholders in GRM Foodkraft, which focuses on domestic foods business. Atul Garg, MD, GRM Overseas Ltd. said the company has roped in Sauce.vc as a strategic investor. "We look forward to deriving substantial advantages from the wealth of experience and a demonstrable history of creating new-age brands by the Sauce team. Our goal is to evolve our brands into distinguished names in their respective product categories," he said. The company would intend to work with the Sauce team to identify emerging areas for launching new brands in packaged foods and to explore deepening its presence in digital channels including e-grocers, quick commerce, and e-commerce. "Sauce's investment aligns with our commitment to rapidly scale and diversify our

Private equity, venture capital investments dropped to $3.4 bn in October

Investments by Private Equity and Venture Capital (PE/VC)funds have declined to USD 3.4 billion for October, a report said on Tuesday. By value, the bets were 3 per cent lower than USD 3.5 billion in the year-ago period, and 19 per cent lower than USD 4.2 billion in September, the report by industry lobby grouping IVCA and EY, a consultancy, said. The number of deals or volumes was also lower at 70 transactions in October as against 80 in the year-ago period and 83 in a month earlier, the report said. "Although the Indian consumption story continues to remain strong, the increase in uncertainty on account of global factors and impending state and central elections in India seem to be slowing down progress in deal pipeline activity," the consultancy firm's partner Vivek Soni said. Stating that he has a "cautiously optimistic" outlook, Soni said PE/VC investments are still lacking momentum, especially in the startup space. October witnessed nine large deals totalling USD 2.4 billion

DIEZ launches AED 500 mn venture capital fund to finance tech startups

The new fund was launched on the sidelines of the Dubai Business Forum, which is being organised by Dubai Chambers under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid