New Delhi, May 29 -- Private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) deal activity has remained in a narrow range for the past six weeks, though the total funding value saw a sharp decline in the week ending May 29, according to data collated by VCCircle.
In the Eid-holiday-shortened week, Indian companies raised about $57 million (Rs 540 crore) across 21 transactions. In comparison, the previous week saw a similar number of deals but a much higher funding value of about $769 million.
A large number of transactions this week were of undisclosed amounts, indicating the total deal value could be higher. The top three deals, which likely involved big-ticket cheques, were also of undisclosed value.
The most notable transaction of the week saw bulk drug maker Embio Ltd raise fresh funding from homegrown private equity firm True North. According to media reports, the PE firm likely acquired a 25% stake for about $50 million (Rs 480 crore). The drug maker plans to expand capacity and invest in its contract manufacturing business.
Another significant transaction saw the family offices of the Godrej Group, JSW Group, Lodha, and Sattva Group investing in facility management and real estate services company SILA Solutions, which recently raised $100 million (around Rs 927 crore) from British private equity firm Permira.
Mid-week, fashion retailer Citykart saw a secondary stake sale as India SME Investments partially exited the company. Oister Global acquired the stakes, as reported by VCCircle.
There was a dearth of mid-stage deals, with only Fairdeal.Market and StrainX Bioworks bagging between $10 million and $15 million. Most other deals were either in single-digit million-dollar values or undisclosed. Notably, nine of the 21 transactions during the week were of undisclosed value.
On the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) front, activity slowed to just four deals versus 8-10 in the last two-three weeks.
The most notable transaction was specialty chemicals maker Anupam Rasayan (India) Ltd expanding its footprint across the pharmaceutical value chain through the acquisition of a 43% stake in Bliss GVS Pharma Ltd.
Another significant deal came in the hospital sector, where Mumbai-listed Park Medi World Ltd agreed to acquire V3 Healthcare Pvt Ltd, which operates The Medicity Hospital.
Among other M&A transactions, corporate travel and expense management platform Ziptrrip acquired HelloTravel Online, while UK-based digital healthcare company Voy acquired Indian online weight-loss platform EarlyFit.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.