Skip to main content

Series A investors setting high bar for quality: Venture Intelligence study

Press Release

Less than 1 in 3 startups that attract seed funding manage to raise follow-on funding in the form of a “Series A” round, a study by Venture Intelligence, the leading provider of data on private company financials, transactions and their valuations, shows. 

Out of the over 2,500 startups that had raised seed funding between 2015-2022, only 29% (i.e., 734 companies) managed to raise a Series A round (typically the first round of institutional Venture Capital funding), the study titled “Series A Landscape Report” found. However, once a startup attracts a Series A round, its success ratio in raising subsequent rounds of capital, improves quite significantly. For instance, 50% of the companies that raised a Series A during the study period, succeeded in raising a Series B round. And, of the startups that attracted a Series B round, 62% succeeded in obtaining a Series C round. Of the Series C funded companies, 70% managed to raise rounds that were Series D and beyond. (Note: The Venture Intelligence study provides an 18 month window for a company to raise the subsequent round.)


The number of companies raising a Series A round grew at a CAGR of 8% in the five year period from 2017 to 2022. Despite the onset of a funding slowdown in 2022, the number of Series A investments during the year (289) was up 7% compared to 2021 (which saw 269 investments) and 30% above the average of 224 deals recorded in the recent 7 years.


“The total number of Series A deals is a good barometer of the ecosystem’s maturity and a lead indicator for the scale and quality of companies getting built,” said Ganapathy Venugopal, CEO of Axilor Ventures. “This edition of the Series A Landscape report by Venture Intelligence is a timely report that brings credible data to an important aspect of the VC ecosystem,“ he added.

Series A Pipeline Creators

Another highlight of the Venture Intelligence study is the list of “Series A Pipeline Creators” – investors that make seed investments in startups that are relatively more successful in raising the follow-on Series A round.  The list, while topped by Sequoia Capital India, has strong representation from homegrown Venture Capital (VC) firms like Blume Ventures, Chiratae Ventures, Elevation Capital and 3ONE4 Capital as well as specialist seed VC firms like Axilor Ventures, India Quotient and Kae Capital.

Sequoia Capital India had backed 54 startups in the seed round that then went on to raise Series A rounds during the four year period (between 2019 and 2022) analyzed by Venture Intelligence. Sequoia was followed by Blume Ventures that seed funded 31 startups that then went on to successfully raise a Series A round. They were followed by Chiratae Ventures and Accel India (21 startups). Elevation Capital (20) and 3ONE4 Capital (18) completed the Top 5 list. Specialist Seed VC firms like Axilor Ventures, India Quotient and Kae Capital had backed 17 startups each that were successful in attracting Series A rounds subsequently.


Visit https://www.ventureintelligence.com/seriesareport.htm to download the full Report, rich with additional data, graphs and charts.

Most Active Investors

Sequoia Capital India topped the list of most active Series A investors during the 4 year period spanning 2019-22, being a part of as many as 93 Series A rounds, as well as during the calendar year 2022 (when it made 24 such investments). Accel India and Elevation Capital completed the list of Top 3 Series A investors in both the 2019-22 period as well as Calendar Year 2022.


Blume Ventures topped the list of Seed VC investors in calendar 2022 (making 29 seed investments), while Sequoia Capital India was the most active seed investor in the 4 year period spanning 2019-22. Accel India completed the top 3 in both tables - with 56 and 20 investments during the 4 year period and CY 22 respectively. Interestingly, Info Edge - via its corporate VC initiatives - emerged among the top 3 most active seed investors in 2022, making 16 such investments (joining Sequoia in the third most active seed investor slot).

Axilor Ventures emerged among the top five seed VC investors in both the 2019-22 period (with 46 investments) as well CY 22 (making 13 investments and sharing the 4th most active slot with Chiratae Ventures).


Elevation Capital led the table of investors listed by “Participation % in Series A investments” during 2019-22. The firm participated in the Series A rounds of 83% of the startups that it had invested in as  part of their Seed rounds. Elevation was followed by Accel India (75%), Chiratae Ventures (74%) and Kalaari Capital (73%).

“The study highlights how the Indian Early Stage funding ecosystem has matured tremendously in recent years. Despite the current slowdown, the number of funding options available to startups in the Early Stage is much richer compared to even three years back,” noted Arun Natarajan, Founder of Venture Intelligence. “We hope the report also helps discerning founders in choosing the types of VC investors they could partner with at each stage to increase the odds of their startups’ success,” he added.

Visit https://www.ventureintelligence.com/seriesareport.htm to download the full Report, rich with additional data, graphs and charts.

About Venture Intelligence

Venture Intelligence, a division of Chennai, India-based TSJ Media Pvt. Ltd., is India’s longest serving provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions and their Valuations in India. For more information, please visit https://www.ventureintelligence.com

Popular posts from this blog

PE-VC investments decline 8% to $6.2 B in Q1'24

Press Release: Private Equity - Venture Capital (PE-VC) firms invested over $6.2 Billion (across 205 deals) in Indian companies during the first three months of 2024, shows data from  Venture Intelligence , a research service focused on private company financials, transactions, and their valuations. (Note: These figures include Venture Capital type investments, but exclude PE investments in Real Estate). The investment amount represents a 8% fall over the $6.7 Billion (across 242 deals) invested in the same period during 2023 and also down by 6% when compared to the immediate previous quarter (which witnessed $6.6 Billion being invested across 200 deals). Deal volumes in Q1'24 also declined 15% compared to Q1'23 and were up by 3% compared to the immediate previous quarter.  Q1’24 witnessed 8 mega deals ($100 M+ rounds) worth $3.5 Billion, compared to 17 such investments (worth $3.6 Billion) in Q1’23 and 15 such deals (worth $4.1 Billion) in the immediate previous quarter....

Avendus tops League Table for Transaction Advisors to PE deals in H1'24

Citi and Ambit claim the No.2&3 slots Avendus topped the Venture Intelligence League Table for Transaction Advisor to Private Equity Transactions in H1’2024 advising 12 deals worth $2.4 Billion. Citi stood second, having advised 1 deal worth $2 Billion. Ambit followed with 7 deals worth $797 million. Kotak Mahindra Capital ($735 million across 2 deals) and Ernst & Young ($657 million across 7 deals) completed the top five for H1’ 2024. The  Venture Intelligence League Tables , the first such initiative exclusively tracking transactions involving India-based companies, are based on the value of PE and M&A transactions advised by Financial and Legal Advisory firms. Among the larger deals in the latest quarter, Citi, KPMG , Ernst & Young advised $2 Billion acquisition of the Indian business of American Tower Corporation by Brookfield . Avendus, Ernst & Young, JM Financial, Barclays and KPMG advised $ 554 million acquisition of Shriram Housing Finance by Warb...

AZB tops League Table for Legal Advisors to PE deals in H1’24

Trilegal and Khaitan & Co. claim the No.2 & No.3 slots AZB & Partners (AZB) topped the Venture Intelligence League Table for Legal Advisor to Private Equity Transactions in H1 2024 advising 41 deals worth $5.4 Billion. It was followed by Trilegal ($5.1 Billion across 54 deals) and Khaitan & Co. (4.8 Billion across 46 deals) in the second and third spot respectively. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) ($2.9 Billion across 34 deals) and Talwar Thakore & Associates ($2.4 Billion across 9 deals) completed the top five. Among the larger Private Equity deals during H1’2024, Khaitan & Co., Talwar Thakore & Associates, S&R Associates ,and Trilegal a dvised the $2 Billion acquisition of the Indian business of American Tower Corporation by Brookfield which was the largest PE-VC investment in 2024 . AZB advised the $900 Million acquisition of Altimetrik by TPG Capital and the $840 Million acquisition of Healthium Medtech by KKR . Resolut Partners , Khaitan & ...

Citi tops League Table for Transaction Advisors to M&A deals in H1'24

  Ernst & Young and Avendus claim the No.2 & No.3 slots Citi , which advised the  $2 Billion acquisition of the Indian business of American Tower Corporation by Brookfield,  topped the Venture Intelligence League Table for Transaction Advisors to M&A Deals   during H1 2024. Ernst & Young stood second advising 8 deals worth $1.5 billion. Avendus followed with 7 deals worth $1.2 billion. KPMG ($1.1 billion across 5 deals) and JM Financial ($900 million across 4 deals) completed the top five. The  Venture Intelligence League Tables , the first such initiative exclusively tracking transactions involving India-based companies, are based on the value of PE and M&A transactions advised by Financial and Legal Advisory firms. Among the other larger M&A deals in H1 2024 (other than the  ATC-Brookfield deal) , Ernst & Young, KPMG and Deloitte advised $1.1 Billion acquisition in PNC Infratech 12 Road Projects by Highways Infrastructure Tr...

AZB & Partners tops League Table for Legal Advisors to M&A deals in H1’24

Khaitan & Co. and J Sagar Associates claim the No.2 & No.3 slots AZB & Partners topped the Venture Intelligence League Table for Legal Advisor to M&A Transactions during H1 2024 advising 37 deals worth $14.8 Billion. It was followed by Khaitan & Co. ($12.8 Billion across 32 deals) and J Sagar Associates (JSA) ($9.8 Billion across 13 deals). Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) ($6.2 Billion across 38 deals) and Trilegal ($4.8 Billion across 20 deals) completed the top five. Among the largest M&A deals during H1 2024, AZB, JSA and Khaitan & Co. advised $8.5 Billion acquisition of Disney Hotstar by Reliance Jio . S&R Associates , Talwar Thakore & Associates (TTA), Khaitan & Co. and Trilegal advised the $2 Billion buyout deal   of  ATC India by Canadian infrastructure investor Brookfield Asset Management . CAM advised the $1.3 Billion in the acquisition of a  further  stake in Ambuja Cement  by Adani Enterprises . Among fo...