Indian startups ended the year with a whimper, as funding proceeds plunged 17% to $1.38 billion in December from $1.66 billion in November, according to proprietary data compiled by DealStreetAsia. At 98, however, the volume of PE-VC transactions was up 19% from November’s tally of 91 deals.
On the brighter side, India’s healthcare sector witnessed robust deal activity in 2024 on the back of improving insurance penetration and growing demand for quality health services. A cumulative $5.67 billion flowed into Indian healthcare firms — from traditional hospitals to medical robotics startups and healthcare financing companies — last year, showed data from research firm Venture Intelligence.
According to a separate Bain and Co report, India accounted for 26% of the Asia-Pacific region’s total private equity deal volume in the healthcare sector, which mopped up a combined $14 billion last year.
The Indian healthcare sector is poised to see a similar drift this year as well, said Sunil Thakur, partner at healthcare-focused private equity firm Quadria Capital, in an interview with DealStreetAsia.
In more good news, India’s IPO market, which put up a stellar show in 2024, is likely to continue its winning streak in 2025 amid expectations of record-breaking volumes driven by mega listings, robust investor appetite, and a maturing pipeline of startups preparing for public debuts.
Moving on to the other headlines of the week.
LP-GP news
Secondaries transactions among impact-focused private capital investors are set to pick up and could precipitate a wave of new impact investments. Nicholas Muller, managing director and head of Private Equity Partnerships at Blue Earth Capital, said the firm sees significant opportunity in the space, as traditional secondaries players do not yet have exposure to or relationships in the impact sector.
Bain Capital, a leading global private investment firm, is exploring new investment opportunities in Indonesia beyond the healthcare sector, Sarit Chopra, Partner and Head of Special Situations, Asia, at Bain Capital, told DealStreetAsia.
China’s third state-backed 344-billion-yuan ($47.5 billion) investment fund, which is aimed at propelling the country’s self-sufficiency in chipmaking, has started investments by backing two new funds amid an intensifying crackdown from the US.
BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, said it will leave the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative, the latest Wall Street firm to leave an environmentally focused investor group under pressure from Republican politicians.
Avendus PE Investment Advisors, an asset management arm of the KKR-backed Avendus Group, announced the launch of its third private credit fund with a target corpus of Rs 4,000 crore ($466 million), including a greenshoe option of Rs 2,000 crore.
Deal updates
- Southeast Asia
Indonesia-listed tech giant GoTo has announced that CEO Patrick Sugito Walujo has committed to stay on as CEO until 2029. Walujo was appointed GoTo’s CEO in June 2023 after Andre Soelistyo stepped down.
Singapore-headquartered Digital Edge, which operates data centres in Asia, has announced raising over $1.6 billion in fresh equity and debt capital funding to continue the expansion of its platform.
Soul Parking, Indonesia’s leading parking management service provider, has raised a Series A extension round co-led by existing investors AppWorks and AC Ventures. Taiwan Mobile, USPACE, and Wavemaker Ventures also participated.
The Emerging Africa & Asia Infrastructure Fund has invested $20 million in Vietnam-based CME Solar to support the company’s development of rooftop solar projects in the country.
Indonesian taxi operator PT Blue Bird Tbk is looking at selling a significant minority stake to fuel its growth strategy and expansion plans, according to multiple sources aware of the matter.
Indonesia-listed e-commerce giant Bukalapak has announced that it will shut down its marketplace for physical goods. The move is part of a strategic shift to focus on virtual products.
Singapore-based boutique asset manager Paragon Capital Management has received licences from the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong to operate its advisory and asset management businesses.
Malaysia and Singapore have announced an agreement on a special economic zone in the southern Malaysian state of Johor, aiming to support investment and free up the movement of goods and people between the countries.
bukaPO, a tech-enabled culinary marketplace based in Bali, Indonesia, has closed its late seed funding round led by angel investment network Bali Investment Club and Switzerland-based elea Foundation for Ethics in Globalization.
HiFeed, an Indonesian startup that aims to reduce the environmental impact of cattle farming, has raised an undisclosed sum in its pre-seed funding from Wavemaker Impact, a climate tech venture builder fund of Wavemaker Partners.
International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, is considering a $7 million investment to anchor the Series B funding round of Singapore-incorporated digital lending platform AND Global, according to a disclosure.
Vietnamese genomic testing startup Gene Solutions has raised funding from Singapore private capital firm August Global Partners, as part of its ambitions to bring its early cancer detection technology and precision therapeutics to the masses across Asia.
Endowus, a Singapore-based licensed wealth advisor backed by SBVA (formerly SoftBank Ventures Asia) has announced raising an additional $17.5 million in its latest funding round.
South Korean conglomerate SK Group plans to sell about a fifth of its holding in Vietnam’s Vingroup starting next week, a filing showed.
AEON Financial Service, a unit of Japan’s biggest retailer, AEON Group, has completed the acquisition of SeABank’s consumer finance arm PTF for 4.3 trillion Vietnamese dong (approximately $170 million).
Indonesian state-owned oil firm Pertamina will buy a 20% stake in Philippines-based Citicore Renewable Energy for 6.70 billion pesos ($114.8 million).
- Greater China
Baidu-backed Weimai, a provider of one-stop digital healthcare solutions, has completed a Series D funding round at 200 million yuan ($27.3 million) as the company looks to go public in the next two years.
China’s WuXi Biologics will sell its vaccine facility in Ireland to Merck for about $500 million. WuXi had previously said it was planning to sell some of its operations amid US restrictions.
Hong Kong-based developer Logan Group is offering a restructuring proposal for the majority of its about $8.01-billion offshore debt, including conversion to mandatory convertible bonds for its offshore creditors.
Insilico Medicine, a clinical stage biotech firm that is in the process of advancing what potentially could be the world’s first generative AI-discovered and -designed drug to human clinical trials, has secured over $100 million in a fresh funding round.
Chinese chip maker SJ Semiconductor, backed by Legend Capital, has raised $700 million in a new financing round. The roster of newly onboarded investors includes Fortera Capital, state-owned Shanghai International Group, and China Life Insurance arm China Life Private Equity Investment among other Greater China investors.
Chinese general-purpose robotics firm Fourier has raised a new investment to bring the overall funding in its Series E round to almost 800 million yuan ($109.1 million) with support from investors including Prosperity7 Ventures.
Hong Kong’s $1.6-billion credit investor SC Lowy is shifting its investment focus to private credit in Asia and the Middle East to capture investor demand and rising opportunities.
- India
Healthcare SaaS firm Innovaccer, domiciled in the US with operations in India, the US, and the Middle East, said it has raised $275 million in a Series F round of funding through a combination of primary and secondary transactions.
International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, is considering an investment of up to $250 million in Shriram Finance Limited, one of India’s largest non-banking finance companies.
Early-stage VC firm Rukam Capital, which backs consumer and technology startups in India, is currently on the road to raising its second fund. “I think having [sector] focused vehicles is important. It helps from a strategy and deployment perspective and attracts the right kind of LPs,” managing partner Archana Jahagirdar said in an interview.
Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek has emerged as the frontrunner to pick up a minority stake in India’s biggest snack maker, Haldiram Snacks, Moneycontrol reported, citing industry sources. Other suitors in the final lap of the proposed transaction include Blackstone and Alpha Wave Global.
Nutraceutical firm Botanic Healthcare said it has raised Rs 250 crore ($29 million) in a funding round led by private equity firm Skateboat Capital. The round also saw participation from Abakkus Four2Eight Opportunities Fund and DS Group, which is also a limited partner of Stakeboat Capital.
World Bank Group member International Finance Corporation is likely to invest up to $170 million in Indian shadow bank SMFG India Credit Company, according to a disclosure.
Infinity Fincorp Solutions, an NBFC specialising in tailored property loans for MSMEs, said it has raised $35 million in a funding round led by existing investor Jungle Ventures, a Singapore-based independent VC firm.
Kotak Investment Advisors Limited, the alternative assets arm of Kotak Mahindra Group, said it has invested Rs 940 crore ($109.4 million) in India’s Neuberg Diagnostics, as it readies itself to list on the Indian bourses.
Deep dives
The declining purchasing power of Indonesia’s middle class, coupled with uncertainty over the new value-added tax regime, has prompted local venture capital firms to reassess their investment strategies, with some doubling down on premium markets while others pivot towards mass-market solutions.
The climate tech sector has emerged as a rare bright spot amid the persistent slowdown in Southeast Asia’s venture capital activity, reveals the latest DealStreetAsia – DATA VANTAGE report titled The State of Climate Tech in SE Asia 2024.
Funding in Vietnamese tech startups continued to see a decline in 2024, reflecting broader macro trends and a cautious approach among investors. Several experts DealStreetAsia spoke to indicated that the country’s overall tech investment scene has mirrored the downturn across Southeast Asia.
The number of new listings on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) dropped sharply in 2024, mainly due to uncertainties around the government’s economic policies as well as ongoing geopolitical tensions. The situation is unlikely to be much different this year, but surprisingly, several industry experts shared an optimistic outlook for 2025 despite the myriad challenges.
Emtek Group-owned Indonesian digital bank Superbank plans to expand its ecosystem by integrating with OVO, a local digital wallet backed by the region’s tech major Grab.
Last year was the busiest year for Japan-related M&As in data going back to 1985, thanks partly to private equity funds snapping up businesses being shed by companies increasingly focused on capital efficiency. The number of announced M&A deals involving a Japanese buyer or seller jumped 17% from 2023 to 4,700, according to Tokyo-based Recof Data.
Indonesia-listed e-commerce major Bukalapak’s move to discontinue its physical goods marketplace and shift to virtual products is aimed at cutting losses and focusing on profitable segments amid a competitive e-commerce landscape.
Vietnam is carving out a prominent place for itself in the ongoing global tech revolution, evolving from a regional manufacturing hub into a destination for artificial intelligence and semiconductor innovation.
The fees Wall Street’s top banks earn from advising Chinese clients on international deals recovered in 2024 as tighter domestic listing rules pushed companies to look to Hong Kong and the US. Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan raked in the most income from advising Chinese clients on stock and bond issuances in international markets last year.
PE-VC funds in China had another gloomy year in 2024, but many in the industry are hoping that a revival is on the cards in the wake of renewed enthusiasm in the domestic stock market after a string of supportive measures from the government.
China’s PE-VC industry has navigated through a tough environment in terms of fundraising and exits in 2024. Our team compiled a list of the top 10 startups that made it to the coveted unicorn list in 2024 based on data from ITjuzi.
