Investors pour $9.3 billion into Indian startups, a decline as compared to 2019 data shows

Investors have poured in about $9.3 billion into Indian startups so far in 2020 despite the Covid-19 pandemic upending many sectors of the economy, data from industry tracker Tracxn showed. This is a decline as compared to 2019 when domestic startups had raised a total of $14.2 billion across 1,482 rounds from January 1 to December 23. In December alone, more than $1.5 billion was invested across companies including food delivery app Zomato, logistics player Delhivery, and InMobi’s Glance. The investments have been spread across 1,088 financing rounds, according to the Tracxn data. Deal activity was slow in April ($461 million raised through 85 rounds), May ($318.5 million through 72 rounds) and June ($553 million through 68 rounds). (Also read:  Indian edtech startups received over $2.22 billion funding in 2020 as compared to $553 million in 2019 ) Although the number of funding rounds fell to its lowest in five years in 2020, the amount raised was higher than 2016 and 2017, when investors chipped in $3.51 billion and $6.43 billion respectively. (Also Read: Zomato closes $660 million funding in Series J fundraise round making its valuation hit $3.9 billion. ) Some of the venture capital firms doubled down on seed and Series A deals. There were fewer $100-million funding rounds this year (24 rounds totalling $4.71 billion), but these accounted for the bulk of deal value, Tracxn data showed. There were 28 rounds of over $100 million amounting to $7.86 billion in 2019, according to Tracxn. (Also Read: Logistics and supply chain startup Delhivery raises $25 million from Steadview Capital ahead of planned IPO ) The year also saw heightened mergers and acquisitions, with several corporates and strategic investors scooping up high-growth targets. Leading the pack was the acquisition of WhiteHat Jr ($300 million) by Byju’s, and Reliance Industries acquisition of online furniture retailer Urban Ladder ($24 million) and online pharmacy Netmeds ($83 million), clocking more than 20 percent growth in M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) transactions over the previous year.