Venture Capital firms invested USD77m over 17 deals in India during the three months ending September 2009, according to a study by Venture Intelligence in partnership with the Global India Venture Capital Association.
The amount invested during the period was significantly lower compared to the same quarter in 2008 (which had witnessed USD298m being invested across 55 deals), but higher compared to the immediate previous quarter (USD64m across 17 deals).
“There return of confidence in emerging markets in general and India in particular is now getting reflected in the quarter-on-quarter numbers,” says Sudhir Sethi, director of GIVCA and founder, chairman and managing director of IDG Ventures India. “Going forward, we expect the investing momentum to pick up even further.”
The latest numbers take the total VC investments in the first nine months of 2009 to USD201m across 46 deals as against the USD709m across 124 deals during the corresponding period in 2008.
Among the largest investments reported investment during Q3 2009 was the Lightspeed Venture Partners-led investment of USD10m in Mumbai-based Itz Cash Card, India’s largest multi-purpose pre-paid card company. Existing investors Matrix Partners India and Intel Capital participated.
Information technology and IT-enabled services companies accounted for 41 per cent of the investments during Q3 09 (42 per cent by value), the GIVCA/Venture Intelligence research shows.
Helped by the continued interest in microfinance firms, the BFSI industry attracted USD25m across five companies.
Early-stage deals accounted for 60 per cent of the VC investments in volume terms during Q3 09.
