Venture capital investments hit an all time high in 2015

CHENNAI: As the year draws to a close, venture capital (VC) investments have hit an all time high. During JanuarySeptember 2015, 323 deals were closed, attracting an investment of $1.4 billion.

According to data from Venture Intelligence, a research company, investments made in first nine months of 2015 have crossed the previous historical high of $1.2 billion (304 deals) recorded in whole of 2014. In July-September also, VC investments have touched a record of $536 million (111 deals), showing a 9% rise from $473 million (102 deals) investments took place in the previous quarter.

The July-September quarter also saw a 41% jump compared to the same period last year, which witnessed 79 deals worth $264 million.

Early stage investments (seed, first and second round nvestments in companies to ok place within five years) at racted over $1 billion in nine months ended September 2015, said the report.

Among various segments nformation technology and IT-enabled services (IT & ITES) companies -mainly internet & mobile firms -led the pack, accounting for 79 in vestments worth $376 million (71% of total investments in volume).

The largest deals were recorded by Tiger Global with its $20 million investment in mobile-based news service News in Shorts and a similar amount attracted by engineering services BPO Allygrow in a round led by Zodius Capital. Food and beverages attracted the second highest amount of funds (5% in volume) worth $27 million with six deals. Goldman Sachsbacked restaurant Mamagoto got $10 million investment and tea chain Chai Point received a similar amount led by Eight Roads Ventures.

In healthcare & life sciences, Sequoia Capital India accounted for two deals: $20 million to bio informatics firm MedGenome and $19 million to women's reproductive healthcare focused drugs maker Akumentis Healthcare.