South Asia
Sequoia invests $17m in India’s Vini Cosmetics
Sequoia Capital has bought a minority stake in Vini Cosmetics for INR1.1 billion ($17.8 million). The company makes the Fogg range of deodorants and talcum powders White Tone and Jinjola.
Morgan Stanley leads $53m round in India’s Janalakshmi MFI
Microfinance lender Janalakshmi Financial Services has raised INR3.25 billion ($52.8 million) in a Series D round of funding led by Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia.
Abraaj, CDC back India’s Rainbow Hospitals
The Abraaj Group and CDC, the UK government’s development finance arm, have together committed $17.5 million to Rainbow Hospitals, a pediatric and maternity healthcare facility in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The size of the stake was...
Intel Capital commits $8.8m to Indian big data firm NxtGen
Intel Capital, global chipmaker Intel’s corporate VC arm, has invested $8.8 million in NxtGen Datacenter & Cloud Technologies, a Bangalore-based IT infrastructure services provider. The capital will primarily be used to complete NxtGen’s large high-density...
Zodius seed funding supports Antuit's US acquisition
Zodius Capital provided $3 million in seed funding to Antuit, a Singapore-headquartered big data and analytics company. A portion of the capital will be used to finance the purchase of Marketwell, giving the company a readymade footprint in the US market.
Avendus picks up stake in India’s MT Educare
Avendus Private Equity has bought a 1.2% stake in school and professional college tutorial chain operator MT Educare for INR46.9 million ($ 762,408) in an open market transaction.
General Atlantic appoints new India senior VP
General Atlantic (GA) has appointed Alok C. Misra as senior vice president of the firm’s Resources Group in Mumbai.
PE-backed Ratnakar Bank buys part of RBS' India business
Ratnakar Bank will acquire Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) Indian credit cards, mortgage and commercial banking portfolios for an undisclosed sum. The small-sized private sector lender has raised around INR10.7 billion ($177 million) from private equity...
Indian VC Aavishkaar closes Fund II at $94m
Aavishkaar Venture Management Services has closed its second fund, Aavishkaar II, at $94 million. Investors include the International Finance Corporation, Cisco, KfW, FMO, CDC Group and Rianta Capital, a London-based family office.
ASK Pravi invests $9.7m in India’s OMNI Hospitals
ASK Pravi Capital Advisors has invested INR600 million ($9.7 million) in the tertiary care OMNI Hospitals chain for a significant minority stake.
IFC invests in Indian education NBFC
International Finance Corporation will back Avanse Financial Services with $2.3 million to help expand its ability to provide loans to Indian students pursuing higher education.
Sequoia-backed Quick Heal targets India IPO
Sequoia Capital-backed Quick Heal Technologies (QHT), an Indian security software-maker, expects to file its draft red herring prospectus and begin the formal listing process next year.
Nalanda Capital ups stake in Lovable Lingerie
Singapore-based Nalanda Capital has invested another INR5.4 million ($89,825) in listed Indian undergarment maker Lovable Lingerie, taking its stake to 5.06%.
Actis makes another attempt to sell India’s Sterling Hospitals – report
Olympus Capital-backed DM healthcare and Temasek’s HealthCare Global (HCG) are reported to be making offers for Actis Capital's Sterling Hospitals.
Providence Equity-backed Idea Cellular to raise $616m through share sale
Idea Cellular, an Indian telecom provider backed by Providence Equity Partners, plans to issue up to INR37.5 billion ($616.1 million) in equity.
India’s Lighthouse makes $60m first close on Fund II, eyes early 2014 completion
Lighthouse Funds has reached a first close of approximately $60 million on its second India-focused fund. The GP is now targeting a final close of $125 million in the first quarter of 2014, but as a source familiar with situation told AVCJ, economic and...
PE firms eye exit as Trimax IT Infrastructure files for IPO
India’s Trimax IT Infrastructure plans to go public, facilitating a partial exit for PE backers Aditya Birla Private Equity (ABPE), Zephyr Peacock India and BanyanTree Growth Capital.
Japan's Transcosmos buys 20% VC-backed Chinese logistics firm
Japan’s Transcosmos has bought a 20% stake in FineEx, a Chinese logistics provider backed by Shanghai Vstone Capital. The transaction size was not disclosed but it is believed to be over $10 million.
Founder of VC-backed ShopClues faces US charges
Sandeep Aggarwal, founder of VC-backed Indian e-commerce site ShopClues, has been arrested in the US in connection with the SAC Capital Advisors insider trading investigation. He is charged with passing confidential information to a trader concerning...
Indian Angel Network invests in IndiaCollegeSearch
Indian Angel Network (IAN) investor members Vikram Kant Upadhyaya, Anupam Mittal and Varun Khurana have committed an undisclosed amount to IndiaCollegeSearch (ICS), a website that provides information on over 7,000 professional educational institutes.
KKR seeks investors to expand India NBFC
KKR is in talks with overseas investors to infuse capital into its non-banking financial company (NBFC) in India, KKR India Financial Services.
GE Energy invests $42m in India hydro-electric project
GE Energy Financial Services India has committed INR2.5 billion ($42.5 million) to a hydro-power project in north-east India operated by Gati Infrastructure (GIL). The investment was made through a share subscription agreement, for an undisclosed stake.
Microsoft consolidates India start-up programs
Microsoft India has brought its start-up offerings under a single platform – known as Microsoft Ventures – following a similar restructuring at group level. Existing VC investment programs including BizSpark, Bing Fund and Accelerator will now operate...
VCs back India SME group-buying service
Despite there being around 47 million small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in India, the segment has not yet participated in the country's e-commerce boom. While 51% of online SMEs use the internet to advertise, a mere 27% use it for trade, according...