Social Venture Capital firms have invested about $95 million over 53 deals in India during the 12 months ended December, according to data from Venture Intelligence. Deal activity increased 8.2% compared to 2014 which had witnessed 49 such investments valued at $106 million.
The larger sized investments during 2015 included the $15 million investment in Swarna Pragati Housing Microfinance by investors including Zephyr Peacock, Omidyar Network, Aavishkaar Goodwell and Intellecap Impact Investment Network and the LGT Venture Philanthropy led $8 million investment in dental clinic chain myDentist.
With 14 investments worth about $25 million, the information technology and IT-enabled services (IT & ITeS) industry emerged as the favourite industry for investments among social venture capital investors too during 2015 accounting for 26% of the investment activity, 27% by value.
According to Venture Intelligence, the larger investments in IT & ITES companies included the $5 million from Unitus Impact and Exifinity Fund raised by Shotang, a B2B e-commerce marketplace which raised and a similar amount invested in SME funding platform Indifi by Elevar Equity along with Accel India and angel investors.
Other IT & ITES investments by impact investors during 2015 included regional languages focused tech firm Reverie Language Technologies, m-commerce firm Lookup and credit scoring firm CreditMantri (Elevar Equity, Accion International and IDG Ventures India).
Source: The Financial Express
