The Venture Intelligence Blog

Mint has a feature, quoting growth figures from startups like Mamaearth and BoAT, on how some niche FMCG brands are gaining favor among consumers and also investors, post the Covid lockdowns.  Since June, Saama’s Lilani has begun to evaluate at least one new consumer brand investment every day. “Let me put it this way: in April, a down round was the best-case scenario for consumer brand startups; now, it’s the worst-case scenario for many," he said.  ...That these companies are not only growing rapidly but doing so with higher net margins is helping their cause at a time when investors are demanding better unit economics at startups. Last year, consumer brand startups received $295 million in capital, up from $158 million in 2018, according to data with Venture Intelligence. There are some common themes that are allowing startup brands to thrive. One, they were all relatively well-established in their categories even before the pandemic. Then, their products have now become e...

Press Release With Reliance Industries' communications unit Jio Platforms attracting 51% of the investment value, Private Equity-Venture Capital (PE-VC) investments in India rose 12% during the first 6 months of 2020 to $18.8 Billion (across 341 deals), shows data from  Venture Intelligence , a research service focused on private company financials, transactions and their valuations. Investments totaling over $9.5 Billion in Jio by a troop of global private equity firms, following social media giant Facebook's $5.7 Billion mid April investment in the company, helped overall PE-VC investments better the $16.8 Billion (across 503 transactions) invested during the same period in 2019. (Note: These figures include Venture Capital investments, but exclude PE investments in Real Estate).   Jio Platforms' $9.5 Billion Private Equity haul (excluding Facebook’s strategic investment) was led by Middle Eastern and American investors with KKR, Saudi Arabia's Public Invest...

Press Release Venture Capital* investors invested $1.74 Billion (across 126 deals) in Indian Startups during the quarter ended March 2020, according to data from  Venture Intelligence , a research service focused on private company financials, transactions and their valuations. The Q1'20 investments were 22% lower (in value terms) compared to the $2.22 Billion (across 196 transactions) during the same period last year and 7.5% lower compared to the immediate previous quarter (which had witnessed $1.88 Billion being invested across 176 transactions). Investment volume (or number of investments) has trended down even sharper: 36% compared to Q1'19 and 40% compared to the previous quarter. (*Venture Capital is defined as Seed to Series F investments in companies less than 10 years old.) The largest VC-type investment announced during Q1’20 was the $114 million investment by Temasek in fitness company Curefit . The second largest investment was the $110 million r...

Press Release Private Equity-Venture Capital (PE-VC) firms invested $5.9 Billion (across 164 deals) during the quarter ended March 2020 - 36% lower than the $9.2 Billion (across 249 transactions) during the same period last year, according to data from  Venture Intelligence , a research service focused on private company financials, transactions and their valuations. The Q1'20 investments were also 37% lower compared to the immediate previous quarter (which had witnessed $9.4 Billion being invested across 227 transactions). (Note: These figures include Venture Capital investments, but exclude PE investments in Real Estate). The latest quarter witnessed 14 PE-VC investments worth $100 million or more, down from the 20 such transactions in the same period last year. The largest PE-VC investment announced during Q1’20 was the $567 million takeover of power generation company  RattanIndia Power by Goldman Sachs and Varde Partners. The second largest investment was Sof...

OUR SUPPORT The recent outbreak of COVID-19 is having a devasting impact on our clients’ businesses, operations, workforce and morale. From ‘growth’, ‘business plans’, ‘targets’, ‘recruitment’, the discussions have shifted to ‘conservation’, ‘force majeure’, ‘employee wages’, ‘patience’, ‘resilience’ and ‘preservation’ and unfortunately, this pandemic is far from over.  The times are tough and we, at LexCounsel are here to support you with your queries on force majeure, suspension/termination of contracts, wage reduction, lay-offs, enforcement and frustration of contracts, continuity of compliances, breach of obligations, failure to meet payment deadlines, risk assessment or any other contractual/legal issues that you may be facing in your business. Please feel free to reach out to us should you require any assistance and we would be happy to help. If you have questions or would like additional information on the material shared above, please contact the authors:...