Private equity-venture capital funds dry up: Worst year since 2019

CHENNAI: Investments by private equity - venture capital (PE-VC) companies could be the lowest in CY2024 when compared with the past six years. With just over a month left in the current calendar year, it is unlikely to touch the PE-VC investment value of last year (2023) at $32.8 billion. The PE-VC investments this year (Jan-Oct) this year stood at $25.6 billion.

This year, Jan, May and June witnessed investment of $3.5 billion each, while the other months recorded investments ranging from $1.6 billion to $2.7 billion, data released by research firm Venture Intelligence showed. Multiple factors including decline in mega deals exceeding $100 million, global geopolitical implications and denominator effect have severed a blow contributing to the overall dip in PE-VC investments, analysts said.

According to Venture Intelligence, PE-VC investments reached its peak in 2021 at $64.9 billion, the highest since 2019. However, it has fallen in the next three years. Venture Intelligence founder Arun Natarajan said, the sharp fall in mega deals (PE-VC investments above $100 million) was the main reason for decrease in the overall investment value.