Quick-commerce to remain hot sector for VC investments in India this year

New Delhi, Jan 21 (IANS) Global VC investment rose from $349.4 billion across 43,320 deals in 2023 to $368.3 billion across 35,684 deals in 2024, as quick-commerce remained a hot sector of investments in India in the fourth quarter last year and will continue in 2025, according to a report on Tuesday. 

An encouraging trend in India has been the increasing number of tech startups looking at IPO exit opportunities — either filing their listing paperwork or beginning the process to do so, according to KPMG Private Enterprise’s Venture Pulse.

Over the last 18 months, there has been growing acceptance of these companies by India’s capital markets, stock exchanges, the retail public, and institutional investors.

“With more institutional investors subscribing to IPOs and more active trade happening, more startups are seeing IPOs as a real exit option,” the report mentioned.

The VC market activity is expected to pick up through 2025 in India, with more pre-IPO rounds, more IPOs, and more exits in general.

“When you look at the results year-over-year, 2024 has been a much better year compared to 2023 for VC investment in India — and 2025 could be even better,” said Nitish Poddar, Partner and National Leader, Private Equity, KPMG in India.

“While Q4 saw us hit a bit of a speed bump, we’re still seeing a lot of activity in the VC market here, especially in the area of quick-commerce. Over the last year, a few of these companies have held successful IPOs, which is giving VC investors’ confidence to make bolder bets given the expansion of potential exit routes,” Poddar noted.

Globally, a record number of multi-billion dollar deals in the AI space propelled both the positive Q4 results and the year-on-year rise in VC investment.

Five US-based AI companies attracted a total of $32.2 billion in Q4. Only two companies outside of the AI space saw $1 billion+ deals in the quarter.

“The level of funding flowing into the AI space continues at an impressive pace,” said Conor Moore, Global Head, KPMG Private Enterprise, KPMG International.

“VC investors are becoming more discerning however in doubling down on the truly disruptive companies with game-changing solutions. In a year that was full of uncertainty and somewhat lacklustre deal-making, AI was far and away the standout superstar,” Moore added.

—IANS

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