New Delhi, Jan 1 (IANS): Private Equity-Venture Capital (PE-VC) firms investments in India fell by 29 per cent in 2022 compared to the record highs of 2021. PE-VC firms invested $46 billion (across 1,261 deals) in Indian companies in 2022, compared to $65 billion (across 1,362 deals) in the previous year, according to Venture Intelligence.

India minted a total of 21 unicorn companies (VC-funded startups valued at $1 billion or more) in 2022, 18 of them during the first six months of 2022 and less than half the 44 Unicorns minted in 2021.

In fact, the final quarter of 2022 did not see any new unicorns being created. SaaS companies accounted for 29 per cent of all the new unicorns in 2022, followed by Fintech companies with 19 per cent. Overall, unicorn startups in India attracted $9.8 billion worth of investments in 2022, down by 61 per cent compared to the previous year (which saw $25 billion invested in unicorn startups).

2022 witnessed 111 mega deals ($100 M+ rounds) worth $31 billion, compared to 152 such investments worth $50.3 billion in 2021. Qatar Investment Authority's $1.5 Billion investment in the new media and consumer technology-focused platform Bodhi Tree (co-created by media veteran Uday Shankar and James Murdoch's Lupa Systems) was the largest in 2022. This was followed by the $1.1 billion investment into publicly listed Yes Bank by global PE investors Carlyle Group and Advent International.

VC investments in 2022 - at $24 billion across 1,130 deals - fell by over 32 per cent compared to 2021 ($35.4 Billion across 1,215 deals), Venture Intelligence said.

Sequoia Capital India was the most active VC investor in 2022 with 73 investments (including new and follow on investments), followed by Accel India and Better Capital with 57 investments each. Tiger Global took third place with 50 investments.