The interest of Chinese and Japanese investors in Indian start-ups continues. While established investors such as Alibaba and Softbank have been rather lukewarm this year, other investors from the two countries such as Beenos Partners, Rebright VC, Digital Garage, GMO, Tencent, Ctrip, Hillhouse Capital and Xiaomi have become active.

According to data collated by researcher Venture Intelligence, till 5 September 2016, there were seven investments made by Chinese investors as against six in all of 2015 and 18 deals closed by Japanese investors against 21 in 2015.

Against a total of 27 deals this year with about four months left to go, there were 28 investments made by Chinese and Japanese investors in 2015.

However, there has been a decrease in the average deal size in 2016, specifically in the case of Japanese investors. While an investment commitment of $1870 million was recorded in 2016 through 21 deals by Japanese investors, it was just $138 million this year.

On the other side, Chinese companies are still aggressive and making large investments. A total of $870 million has been invested by Chinese investors in Indian start-ups so far this year. The number of deals and amount also include co-investment contribution.

When it comes to the size of investment by individual investors this year, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba led the race with an investment of $300 million in its existing portfolio company Paytm, which is run by One97 Communications Ltd.

Source: Mint