The Venture Intelligence Blog

A DNA article quotes Venture Intelligence data on Japanese VCs investing in India: According to the research firm Venture Intelligence, while investments by Japanese firms as private equity touched $1.43 billion in the first half of calendar 2017, from just $459 million in 2016, almost the whole of it or about 98.9% was accounted by SoftBank Group Corp which invested $1.40 billion. Related: Japanese Venture Capital Investors investing in India Venture Intelligence is India's longest serving provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India.

Knowledge @ Wharton quotes Venture Intelligence data and founder in its article titled "Will SoftBank Vision Fund’s $6 Billion Bet in India Pay Off?" Extracts: "(says) Arun Natarajan, founder of information and analysis firm Venture Intelligence: “Given how the future of so many of the local internet and mobile unicorns was hanging in the balance in 2016, the arrival of such a deep-pocketed investor is a sigh of relief.” "He points out that other than the 2011 investment in InMobi, SoftBank really started to invest in the Indian market directly only in late 2014. The less than three-year period is too early to pronounce a verdict on their ‘track record’,” Natarajan says. He also notes that the “sheer mathematics” of the Vision Fund means that it needs to find and invest in “dozens of companies” that can absorb $1 billion, if not more, each. “Which naturally means that these companies should have already achieved significant scale — at least in their ho...

A Japan Times article quotes Venture Intelligence data on investment by Japanese firms in India: Japanese firms invested at least $1.43 billion (about ¥163 billion) in Indian private equity and venture capital deals in the first half of 2017, more than triple the $459 million in 2016, according to data provided by Indian research firm Venture Intelligence.   Telecommunications giant SoftBank Group Corp. accounted for $1.40 billion, or 98.9 percent, of the first-half sum with two large deals in the telecom sector. Six other deals were sealed with Japanese companies, ranging from marketing for agriculture and logistics to travel and wellness, the data showed. In one of its two deals, SoftBank invested in One97 Communications Ltd., which operates India’s largest mobile payment and commerce platform under the Paytm brand. The remaining $30 million came from Mistletoe Inc., GREE Ventures Inc., Rebright Partners Ltd. and SoftBank, in partnership with other non-Japanese firms, in...

A Nikkei article quotes Venture Intelligence Arun Natarajan on SoftBank's journey in India: "SoftBank is one of the very few startup investors willing and able to lay down hundreds of millions of dollars in a single go" said Arun Natarajan, CEO of research company Venture Intelligence. SoftBank's former second-in-command, Nikesh Arora, helped lead the company's Indian strategy after coming aboard in 2014 and continued to do so until his departure in June of this year. But he was not the reason SoftBank came to India, according to Natarajan. "They were in India and continue to be around regardless of Nikesh Arora," he said. Venture Intelligence  is India's longest serving provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India.

It all seems to have started with Snapdeal's Kunal Bahl and Mr Ratan Tata (in Aug 2014)      Source: NBW And then Paytm/One97's Vijay Shekhar Sharma took it international with Alibaba's Jack Ma (Feb 2015)      Source:   FirstPost According to  Economic Times , the latest $500 million investment in Snapdeal (led by Foxconn, Alibaba and SoftBank ) -  which has been reported about for several months now  - faced "protracted negotiations" over the company's valuation. Another angle journalists might want to consider (for such delays) is how long it takes to synch up schedules of international personalities (who seem to call all the shots in Indian E/M-Commerce these days) to line up something like this:       Snapdeal founders with Alibaba's Jack Ma and  SoftBank's Nikesh Arora The Venture Intelligence PE/VC Deals Database  currently captures 25+ data points for  private company...

Extract from The Economic Times profile of the mobile advertising company made famous by the recent $200 million investment that it attracted from SoftBank: On Raising Funds From Ram Shriram . There was a phase when credit cards of the entire founding team were used to just pay salaries! With little success in raising funds from sceptic Indian investors, I decided to take a flight to Silicon Valley, where our venture received positive response. Everyone believed in the power of the mobile internet. I was introduced to Ram Shriram and I was really looking at it as a once in a lifetime experience more than anything else. About 20 minutes into the presentation, Ram suddenly got up and said “Close the presentation, we are funding this. What is the execution plan?” I was in a state of shock not only because of his reaction but also because there was no execution plan to show him at that stage whatsoever. On InMobi's International Expansion. As we evaluated the market, we soo...