Antler India eyes record deals next year in a sign that early-stage funding may be on recovery path after 2 years
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Bengaluru: Antler India plans to close about 50 investments in 2025 in a sign that early-stage funding may pick up after a two-year slump due to heated valuations, a top executive at the venture capital firm toldMint.
“We plan to close about 40-50 investments next year and this should take our total India portfolio to 130-140 from just this fund," Rajiv Srivatsa, a partner at Antler India, said in an interview. “We anticipate the next year to be a great time to invest in the pre-seed categories as we are seeing more traction in the successive stages, which was not the case last year." The VC firm closed 30 investments in 2024, the most so far, and Srivatsa added that the investment firm expects to close a few more deals before the end of this year.
In comparison, it had about 22 investments last year, less than 10 in 2022, and 13 in 2021. Currently, it invests out of its $75 million maiden fund in sectors including artificial intelligence, consumer tech, fintech, deeptech, health and climate.
According to Aakash Agrawal, associate director - digital & new-age business at Anand Rathi Investment Banking, while total private investment in startups has remained consistent in 2024 when compared to 2023, it is still at almost half of the peak in 2021 and 2022. “What is of some concern is that while seed and pre-seed funding is witnessing activity, there is a slowdown at the series A and B levels, which makes the journey somewhat complex for these seed-stage startups as they have typically lesser capital to build out products or services since investors at growth stages are patiently sitting on dry powder, looking to deploy at leisure," Agrawal said.
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