New Delhi, Aug. 21 -- Private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) investment activity picked up in the week ended August 21, with the number of companies raising capital increasing marginally. However, the aggregate deal value fell sharply due to the absence of multiple large-ticket transactions, according to data collated by VCCircle.
At least 26 companies raised a combined $327.1 million during the five-day period, compared with 20 companies that raised $2.1 billion in the previous week. The steep decline in overall funding value was largely driven by the absence of large infrastructure and real estate transactions that had driven last week's total.
Financial services, logistics, consumer and healthcare companies attracted some of the biggest investments during the week.
Leading the list was Sachin Bansal-led financial technology platform Navi Technologies, which raised $100 million from Prosus, making it the largest PE-VC transaction of the week. Logistics company 20Cube 3PL Solutions secured $52.2 million from Investcorp, while entertainment ticketing platform BookMyShow raised an undisclosed amount, reportedly about $40-50 million, from KKR.
In the consumer space, ethnic sweets maker Dharwad Big Mishra Pedha raised $31.3 million from Bharat Value Fund. Healthcare company Tenet Diagnostics secured $30 million in funding led by Tata Capital Healthcare Fund. CtrlS Datacenters raised $26.1 million in a round led by Nikhil Kamath, while Keertana Finserv received $24 million from Neo Wealth Partners.
Other notable transactions included NeoGeoInfo Technologies raising $20 million from State Bank of India's Neev II Fund and Aavishkaar Capital, Rezolv securing $12.5 million from Norwest, Peeko raising $7.04 million from Chiratae Ventures, and Butterfly Learnings raising $6.8 million from Inflexor Ventures.
Several early-stage startups also attracted fresh capital, including LISSUN, DeHaat Honest Farms, Usmanpura Imaging Centre, AlgoFET, First Coffee, Ekatra Retail, Bruno Milano, ZAYDN, Invisel, Zenalyst, Digidukan, Atravelq, Yantra Packs, Tross and Neuromod Aqua.
Active investors across the week's transactions included Prosus, Investcorp, KKR, Bharat Value Fund, Tata Capital Healthcare Fund, Nikhil Kamath, Neo Wealth Partners, SBI's Neev II Fund, Aavishkaar Capital, Norwest, Chiratae Ventures, Inflexor Ventures, Colossa Ventures, OTP Ventures, OFAAFO Advisors, Piper Serica, DG Daiwa Ventures, Caret Capital, Sauce.vc, Inflection Point Ventures and IAN Angel Fund.
Meanwhile, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity strengthened significantly, with nine transactions announced during the week compared with five in the previous week.
The largest M&A transaction was Advanta Enterprises' acquisition of Misr Hytech Seed International for $110 million. Other deals included Tata Group company Nelco infusing $20 million in Elveo Mobile and Jubilant Ingrevia's purchase of a 40% stake in Zettaone Technologies India Pvt Ltd for $19.8 million.
Manipal Health Enterprises acquired Kinder Women's Hospital and Fertility Centre for $13.5 million, while PN Gadgil Jewellers acquired Silvostyle Jewellers for $2.9 million and CG Power acquired Tosil Systems for $1.7 million.
Other M&A transactions announced included DSP Finance's acquisition of Salter Technologies, Atom Group's acquisition of Amaltas Partners, and Fleetx.ai's acquisition of Pando.ai. Financial terms for these three transactions were not disclosed.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.