PE-VC April flows pause at $2.3B

Private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) investments in the month of April took a breather after an exceptional performance in March, due to a tepid deal flow in infrastructure and financial services. Data from research firm Venture Intelligence (VI) shows that April saw $2.3 billion in PE-VC investments compared to over $6 billion in March, when large-value infrastructure and NBFC deals made up over 60%, making the earlier month an outlier. The number of PE-VC deals in April rose marginally to 68 from 58 deals in March.

However, on a year-on-year basis, April saw a 35% rise in total PE and VC investments from the same month in the previous year. VI data also shows performance in April matching that of February, when total PE and VC investments were $2.1 billion across 42 deals. “While March was an outlier for private markets, bucking the elections trend, investment activity in infrastructure and NBFC sectors has not kept pace in April,” VI founder Arun Natarajan said, noting that March recorded large deals of over $4 billion from infrastructure and financial services space. The peak elections season has not dented the PE-VC market in the month, he added.

PE firm Baring Asia’s investment of $381 million to acquire 30% stake in NIIT Technologies, $310 million invested in Essel Propack by Blackstone, and Everstone’s $145-million funding to acquire a controlling stake in Sahyadri Hospitals were a few top deals that helped keep up the momentum in April.

April was a good month for early stage startups with seed investments almost tripling from last month. As many as 17 seed-stage funding deals, totalling $27 million, were reported in the month. Series-A investment, however, saw a marginal fall.

Among internet companies and tech startups, fantasy gaming startup Dream11 entered the elite unicorn club with an investment of around $60 million from Steadview Capital. The deal involved secondary sale of shares by existing investors Kalaari Capital, Think Investments and Multiples Equity.

Artificial intelligence enterprise Mad Street Den’s $17 million in series-B funding from Falcon Edge Capital and digital lender ZestMoney’s $20-million investment from fintech investor Quona Capital, Reinventure and others were a few other top deals.

The value of exits in April zoomed 80% from March on the back of Malaysia’s Petronas acquiring Amplus Energy in a $350-million deal. PE major KKR also offloaded shares worth almost $300 million in HDFC in an open market sale.