| Here's a look at today's VC briefing. - 🇮🇳 VCs invested $1.5B in Indian startups in December
- 🇺🇸 U.S. public pensions invested $68B in Chinese private entities
- 📊 FirstCry is looking to hold its IPO debut at a $4B valuation
Thank you. Karan
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| 1 | | So far this month, VCs have invested $1.5B in Indian startups, per data from Tracxn reviewed by Inventia. This month's total has already surpassed this year's peak of $1.4B set in January. Despite this month's rise, industry analysts caution that the overall VC funding trajectory remains at a seven-year low, suggesting that the venture funding dip is ongoing. More: - Indian startups have bagged $8.8B in VC funding so far this year.
- The surge seen in December is primarily due to Walmart's $600M capital injection into e-commerce marketplace startup Flipkart and M&G Prudential's $340M investment into B2B e-commerce platform Udaan.
- Due to the lack of exit opportunities for investors, secondary share sales gained prominence in 2023.
- Investors expect secondary share transactions to remain strong going into next year.
- The most notable secondary transaction this year was Lenskart's $450M funding round raised through secondary share sales from ChrysCapital and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
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| 2 | | Over the past three years before June 30, 2023, U.S. public pensions had invested more than $68B in Chinese private companies and private investment funds, including venture capital and private equity funds, per Future Union and Axios. 
What the numbers say: At least one public pension in each of 42 states has backed PE and VC funds across China and Hong Kong. Additionally, at least one public pension in 17 states has invested over 2% of their assets under management in Chinese private entities. Relevance: The Biden administration recently imposed restrictions to limit U.S. investment in Chinese tech companies amidst rising tensions between the two nations. However, some officials are asking for more stringent measures to be put in place. A House Select Committee argues that China's economic system is "incompatible with the WTO." The committee has suggested blocking all U.S. PE investments in China, introducing comprehensive disclosures of existing investments, and facilitating quick divestment from Chinese entities so that the capital can be redirected to American businesses. | | | |
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| 3 | | Baby products e-commerce startup FirstCry is looking to raise $218M in funding through its upcoming IPO listing. The firm has lowered the fundraising target to a third of the initially intended $700M. FirstCry is aiming for a valuation of $4B, lower than its previous target of $6B from last year. More: - The IPO listing could provide a windfall for the startup's investors, including SoftBank, NewQuest, and TPG.
- FirstCry intends to use the proceeds to set up new stores and warehouses, increase sales and marketing initiatives, expand domestically and internationally, lower technology costs, and support acquisitions.
- Over 6,800 brands, including BabyHug and Babyoye, have their products listed on FirstCry's platform.
- The firm doubled its total income from $302M in the last fiscal year to $688.4M in the fiscal year ending March 2023.
- However, losses also increased by $9.4M a year ago to $58.3M in the recent period.
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| 4 | | Chinese VC firm GBA Capital will launch a $10B Web3 fund, the firm announced at the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Digital Economy Development Conference. With the GBA Capital Web3 Fund, the firm aims to back virtual reality, metaverse, and nonfungible token startups with the aim of positioning the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao area into the world's leading "meta-asset capital." More: - GBA Capital's chairman Haolong Li said that the firm will hold "global tours in Japan, Singapore, Dubai, Silicon Valley, Europe, and other places" to promote meta-assets on a global scale.
- Li hopes that the tour will help foster international cooperation and help showcase the region's potential.
- The China Europe International Financial Group established GBA Capital in Hong Kong in a bid to invest in digital economy ventures.
- Earlier this May, GBA Capital's subsidiary Zhongrong Capital bagged angel funding at a valuation of 100M yuan ($14M) to support Web3 project incubation and industrial services within the AI sector.
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| 5 | | Visible Hands, a VC firm focusing on underrepresented founders, laid off seven employees. The firm has eight employees left after the layoffs. Co-founder and general partner Daniel Acheampong said, "We made a difficult but prudent decision to position Visible Hands for long-term success by reducing headcount." More: - The layoffs primarily impacted team members in its consulting and advisory division, which runs alongside the firm traditional early-stage capital fund.
- The Boston, Massachusetts-based firm raised a $10.5M fund last year to support underrepresented founders.
- Limited partners that contributed capital to the fund include George Kaiser Family Foundation's Atento Capital, Bank of America, Equity Alliance, and Brown Advisory.
Zoom out: - The VC funding slump has started impacting venture capital firms.
- A few weeks ago, OpenView Venture Partners laid off all staff members and returned unused capital from its seventh fund back to investors.
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| 6 | | Today's Funding: Consumer - Makeup brand Subtl Beauty closed its Series A funding round at $5M. The round was led by Cult Capital.
- Dermocosmetics brand SkinQ Dermo secured a ~$360,000 (30M INR) seed investment led by Inflection Point Ventures, with participation from Venture Catalysts and Super Angels.
Cybersecurity - Device Authority raised $7M in Series B funding. The firm will receive $4M in capital before the end of this year, with the remaining to be wired contingent upon approval from the National Security and Investment Act. Ten Eleven Ventures and Alsop Louie Capital participated in the round.
Fintech - Indian digital lending platform Revfin closed its Series B funding round at $14M. Omidyar Network led the round with a $5M investment, joined by the Asian Development Bank, Companion Capital Limited, Green Frontiers Capital, and LC Nueva.
PropTech - BotBuilt, a startup that lowers homebuilding costs by using robots, bagged $12.4M in seed funding from existing investors Ambassador Supply, Y Combinator, Owens Corning, and Shadow Ventures.
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- The average venture capital investment per capita for all U.S. metropolitan cities between 2019 and 2021 was about $1,800, per a new report published by Heartland Forward.
- Risa Stack, Widya Mulyasasmita, and Rowan Chapman formed a biotech-focused VC firm called BEVC Management LLC. The firm has not yet filed paperwork with the SEC about raising capital for its fund.
- The Industrial Bank of Korea established its venture capital division and armed it with 100B won ($77M) capital to support startups in the nation.
- Reem Safy established T-Vencubator to invest in and support Egyptian startups.
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 | Analyst | | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield | |
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