This week we presented the monthly venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) funding deal tally from across India, Greater China, and SE Asia.
November witnessed a dealmaking sprint in Greater China as VC and PE deal volume hit a seven-month high at 186, which was 23.2% higher than the previous month, according to our proprietary data.
The deal value, too, tracked a significant upswing in November, as privately-owned firms in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan amassed around $5.9 billion, three times more than the $1.9 billion recorded in October. One major factor that drove up the monthly proceeds was the completion of six megadeals, or investments worth at least $100 million, which contributed to 75.5% of the total capital secured in November.
Buoyed by food delivery platform Swiggy’s $605-million pre-IPO round, fundraising by Indian startups surged nearly 48% month on month to touch $1.66 billion in November. Among the top grossers were the logistics/distribution, consumer products, and financial services industries.
At 91, however, deal volume was down 19% from October’s tally of 112.
While fundraising by Indian startups began on a tepid note in 2024, it stayed upwards of $1 billion for most of the year, particularly in the second half.
Meanwhile, startup fundraising in Southeast Asia dropped to a seven-month low in November, highlighting a continued tightening investment environment for privately held companies across the region. Fundraising plummeted to $174 million last month, marking a 36% decline from October’s $272 million.
The number of equity deals, at 28, was also the lowest this year and in the last 12 months. In October, startups were involved in 44 equity transactions.
Let’s move on to the other developments from this week.
LP-GP updates
Melbourne-headquartered asset manager Boman Group expects its newly launched $1-billion fund to hit its first close by mid-2025. The fund, which was set up to facilitate investment and business expansion opportunities across China and Australia, targets to secure 30-35% in its first close.
Boyuan Capital, the China-focused CVC arm of the world’s top auto supplier Robert Bosch, has held the first close of its second RMB-denominated fund at 500 million yuan ($68.9 million). Boyuan Capital set up its second RMB fund with a target fund size of 1.5 billion yuan ($206.6 million).
Ex-HongShan partner Lu Xiaobo has launched a VC company to capitalise on his expertise in healthcare investments in China. The new VC brand, Hongchuang Capital, has already reached the first close of its debut RMB fund despite being a first-time fund in a challenging fundraising market.
Stride Ventures, which has backed the likes of HealthifyMe and Mensa Brands, has launched its fourth venture debt vehicle with a target corpus of $300 million, nearly double the size of its predecessor fund. The launch of Stride’s fourth fund comes months after the firm hit the final close of its third debt fund at $165 million — $35 million lower than its previous fund.
Venture capital firm Gobi Partners plans to raise $50 million for an investment fund targeting startups in Pakistan, the largest of its kind in the South Asian country. Techxila Fund 2 is the second Pakistan-focused fund launched by Gobi, which is based in Malaysia and Hong Kong, Nikkei Asia reported.
Tokyo-based mid-market private equity firm Advantage Partners has raised about 50% of the target corpus of its second pan-Asian buyout fund. Asia Fund 2 has a $600 million target, nearly 60% larger than its predecessor.
Year-end specials
India’s VC fundraising landscape in 2024 was a tale of two trends — one of successful fund closures by newly launched funds and another of restrained overall capital inflows. Several VC funds that debuted in the country recently managed to raise significant capital from LPs. Yet, the overall fundraising story paints quite a contrasting picture.
The narrowing of the bid-ask spread in Southeast Asia, which typically is a sign of higher demand, is expected to spark a notable increase in buyout activity across the region next year.
Sustainable energy in Asia is drawing capital as the region plays a critical role in the global climate battle. As more private players join the climate action, investors need to factor in the different nuances of the region to generate returns. In this piece, DealStreetAsia captures insider perspectives on Asia’s green transition.
As Asia’s private equity braved yet another year of headwinds, the dynamics in the industry shifted considerably. From the emergence of new strategies to capital flow seeking new alpha, the diversity of Asia and an underpenetrated private capital market make it an exciting region to invest in. In the coming year, investors are expected to build on several strategies and trends that took shape in Asia in 2024.
Deal news
CarDekho SEA, the Southeast Asia business unit of India’s CarDekho Group, has raised $60 million in a funding round to expand its automotive and financial solutions in the region. The financing, the first external funding for the company, was co-anchored by Navis Capital Partners and Dragon Fund. The announcement confirms DealStreetAsia’s report in May that CarDekho SEA was finalising its maiden funding round with Navis Capital Partners as one of the lead investors.
Somerset Indus Capital Partners, a healthcare-focused Indian private equity (PE) firm, has invested in Cyrix Healthcare as the med-tech company plans to expand in domestic and international markets.
GDP Venture, the corporate venture capital arm of Indonesian conglomerate Djarum Group, has bought almost the entire stake it did not previously own in PT Dynamo Media Network, the parent company of local news and content platform Kumparan.com, for $60 million.
Argor Capital Management (formerly Go-Ventures), an early investor in Kumparan, is understood to have sold its approximately 20% stake in the company to GDP Venture.
Fintech startup AwanTunai, which focuses on the FMCG supply chain ecosystem in Indonesia, has raised $60 million in a syndicated debt financing round led by the US-based, impact-focussed investor Accial Capital.
Singapore-based private equity firm Growtheum Capital Partners is investing about 7 billion pesos (around $121 million) in Mets Logistics, a Philippines-based cold-chain solutions provider.
Vietnam-based Techcombank is said to be considering a stake sale that could also pave the exit for existing shareholder and private equity major Warburg Pincus. Techcombank said earlier this year that it was actively looking for strategic investors.
World Bank Group member IFC is considering a proposal to invest up to $100 million in two companies under India’s JK Tyre Group.
Shubham Housing Development Finance, backed by billionaire Azim Premji’s investment firm PremjiInvest, has raised over Rs 1,000 crore ($117.8 million) in a Series F round of funding led by Multiples Private Equity for a significant minority stake in the firm.
Analysis and interviews
Danish renewable energy investor Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) sees huge investment opportunities in Asia, but regulatory actions need to move faster given the urge to deploy capital for climate goals, according to CIP Partner Niels Holst.
There is significant interest in Asia from limited partners (LPs), many of whom have indicated plans to focus on the region in 2025. However, they want more clarity before committing capital, especially as Distributed to Paid-In Capital (DPI) and returns have been suppressed, said Kerrine Koh, Managing Director, Head of Southeast Asia, Hamilton Lane in an interaction with DealStreetAsia.
Temasek-backed Vertex Ventures’s portfolio in 2024 was dominated by India, which accounted for two-thirds of its investments driven by a surge in high-quality, capital-efficient startups. The firm’s future deal pipeline is also skewed towards the world’s fifth-largest economy. Vertex Ventures’s Indian portfolio includes companies like Licious, Ayu Health, Kazam, Kissht, Pilgrim, and Kuku FM, among others.
PE investors are increasingly selling fund stakes in Asia’s secondaries market as LPs proactively manage their portfolios and look at ways to free up capital in decades-long funds amid an exit drought that has decelerated cash distribution. The first nine months of 2024 saw at least two Asian fund backers offloading secondhand stakes in the so-called ‘LP-led transactions’ valued over $2 billion.
LPs in Asia-Pacific have been treading cautiously, declining to re-invest with at least one of their current general partners over the last 12 twelve months, due to a liquidity crunch, according to Coller Capital’s Global Private Capital Barometer report.
APAC private equity is likely to emerge as an outlier over the next five years as returns globally are forecast to cool down, according to Preqin’s Private Equity 2025 report.
Lastly, we are just a month away from the Indonesia PE-VC Summit to be held in Jakarta on January 16, 2025. Join us to kickstart the new year with cutting-edge insights into SE Asia’s top market.
