Private Equity-Venture Capital (PE-VC) investments in India dropped 29 percent to $46 billion across 1,261 deals in 2022 against $65 billion across 1,362 deals in 2021, according to Venture Intelligence.
There are 21 unicorn companies (VC-funded startups valued at $1 billion or more) in 2022, 18 of them during the first six months of 2022 and less than half the 44 Unicorns in 2021, the research report said.
SaaS companies accounted for 29 percent of the new unicorns in 2022, followed by Fintech companies with 19 percent.
Unicorn startups in India attracted $9.8 billion worth of investments in 2022, down 61 percent against previous year’s $25 billion.
2022 witnessed 111 mega deals ($100 million+ rounds) worth $31 billion, compared to 152 such investments worth $50.3 billion in 2021.
Qatar Investment Authority’s $1.5 billion investment in the media and consumer technology-focused platform Bodhi Tree (co-created by media veteran Uday Shankar and James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems) was the largest in 2022. This was followed by the $1.1 billion investment into publicly listed Yes Bank by global PE investors Carlyle Group and Advent International.
VC investments in 2022 – at $24 billion across 1,130 deals – fell by over 32 percent compared to $35.4 billion across 1,215 deals in 2021, Venture Intelligence said.
Sequoia Capital India was the most active VC investor in 2022 with 73 investments (including new and follow on investments), followed by Accel India and Better Capital with 57 investments each. Tiger Global took third place with 50 investments.