Five private equity (PE) investors that come on top on the criterion of deal size collectively put in USD 10 billion in the first half of 2024, recent estimates by Bain & Company said.

This indicates that the funding environment in India for startups is improving this year.

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The figure has surpassed the outlay for last calendar year, when it was USD 8 billion.

Swedish firm EQT was at the top of the list which acquired Nasdaq-listed Perficient at an enterprise value of USD 3 billion, the deal being done by the Indian wing of the company.

It further added to its list by putting in USd 500 million in WSO2, a “software as a service” company, increasing its tally to USD 3.5 billion.

The company invested over USD 8 billion in the country through more than 30 deals, making it a force to reckon with. It has said it would invest around USD 5 billion this year in India.

Next in line is Blackstone, which closed deals worth USD 2.5 billion in the first half this year.

Three other global players that come third. They are TPG — it bought digital services company Altimetrik; KKR — it bought Healthium Medtech at an enterprise value of USD 840 million, and home-grown ChrysCapital — which invested Rs 830 crore in the Centre for Sight and USD 700 million in the National Stock Exchange to maintain its stake.

The PE funds have shown preference for buyouts, whose share in deal value was 55 per cent in the first half this year from 47 per cent in the same period last year.

The first half showed the return of big transactions, with seven deals which were over USD 500 million, underscoring a strategic shift to scale.

Clearly consumer tech is back as a favourite. The deal value in this segment hit USD 2.3 billion in the first half of 2024 compared to USD 1.3 billion last year in the same year.