Investor love: $4 Bn in Q1 for growth-stage tech cos

Funding at the growth stage has never been better. There are currently about a dozen deals of over $100 million each in the works, with the startups involved expected to collectively mop up about $3 billion, according to half a dozen venture capital investors, founders and bankers directly involved in the deal conversations. This is on top of about $1 billion already secured by eight startups since the start of 2021, taking the total mop-up since January to over $4 billion. To put this in perspective, Indian startups raised $11.4 billion in all of 2020 across growth- and early-stage investments, according to Tracxn. Here are our takes on the frenzied fundraising.

Take 1

B Capital, the fund of Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin, was close to signing a $100 million cheque in Meesho late last year. For the venture capital firm, which closed its second fund at $820 million in July, the Meesho deal would have been its boldest and largest bet. “This was one of the most aggressive offers made by the B Capital team,” said a person aware of the matter.