Five Most Active VC Funds In India: Indian Tech Startup Funding Report H1 2018

This article is an extract of Inc42’s recently released Indian Tech Startup Funding Report H1 2018, which provides a detailed analysis of the funding trends, VC funds analysis, and mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the Indian startup ecosystem for the period January-June 22, 2018. To read more articles of this report, click here.

According to the Inc42 Datalabs’ Indian Tech Startup Funding Report H1 2018, till June 22, $3 Bn was invested across 372 deals — a 47% decline in the total funding amount and a 17% drop in the number of deals as compared to H2 2017.

As revealed in the Inc42 DataLabs’ annual Indian Tech Startup Funding Report 2017, Indian tech startups raised $13.5 Bn in funding across 885 deals in 2017.

We have some interesting revelations for you on the VCs that were active in this period — H1 2018 saw 166 VCs make investments, of which Blume Ventures and Accel Partners India were the top two VCs with 11 deals each.

Top 5 VCs For H1 2018

Blume Ventures

Venture capital firm, Blume Venture Advisor funds early-stage seed, startups, pre-series A, series B and late stage investments. Blume backs startups with both funding as well as active mentoring and support.

The firm provides seed funding investments between $0.05 Mn – $0.3 Mn in the seed stage. It also provides follow-on investments to its portfolio companies ranging from $.5Mn to $1.5Mn.

In H1 2018, Blume Ventures invested in startups such as Bengaluru-based car repair and servicing startup Pitstop, Gurugram-based healthcare analytics startup THB (Technology | Healthcare | Big Data Analytics), and Mumbai-based wedding startup The Wedding Brigade, among others.

Accel Partners

Accel Partners, founded in 1983, has a global presence in Palo Alto, London, New York, China, and India. The firm typically makes multi-stage investments in Internet technology companies.

It usually invests between $0.5 Mn and $50 Mn in its portfolio companies.

In H1 2018, Accel Partners invested in web testing platform BrowserStack, ZINIER, an enterprise field operations startup, and Bengaluru-based bike rental platform Wicked Ride, among others.

Sequoia Capital India

The third spot was taken by Sequoia Capital India, which specialises in investments in startup seed, early, mid, late, expansion, public, and growth stage companies.

It invests in between $100K and $1 Mn in seed-stage startups, between $1 Mn and $10 Mn in early-stage ones, and between $10 Mn and $100 Mn in growth-stage companies.

In H1 2018, the firm invested in Bengaluru-based hyperlocal subscription-based delivery startup DailyNinja, Mumbai-based organic juice startup Raw Pressery, and FreeCharge founder Kunal Shah’s new venture, among other investments.

IDG Ventures

The fourth spot was taken by IDG Ventures with nine deals. IDG Ventures India is a leading India-focused technology venture capital fund specialising in startups, early-stage, growth-stage, and expansion-stage companies.

The firm invests in India-based companies and also in companies outside India with an investment range of $1 Mn and $10 Mn.

In H1 2018, IDG Ventures invested in healthtech startup SigTuple, and AI-powered digital asset management platform Kristal.ai, among other companies.

Nexus Venture Partners

In the fifth spot we have Nexus Venture Partners, which made seven investments. Nexus Venture Partners is a venture capital firm investing in early-stage and growth-stage startups across sectors in India and the US.

The firm invests between $0.5 Mn and $10 Mn in early- to growth-stage companies. Nexus makes investments of up to $0.5 Mn in their seed programmes.

In H1 2018, the firm invested in Bengaluru- and San Francisco-based developer tools startup Hasura, and AI-based job search platform Joveo, among others.

Here are some more interesting facts about the VC ecosystem of the country:

• Over 200 VC firms are driving startup communities in metros and non-metros from the seed stage to the growth stage
• About 650 venture capitalists have participated in Indian startup funding since H1 2015
• Compared to H2 2017, the number of unique VCs and angel investors came down by 14% for both in H1 2018

Liked what you read so far? We have a lot more insights and data in our full report, which covers funding trends in Tier I, Tier II, Tier III cities, across 14 industries and sectors segregated by the funding stage. It also has details on average ticket size, investor types, and a lot more, for the period of H1 2018.