China has witnessed a decline of 25.6 per cent in venture capital investments in startups, at $32.2 billion in the first three quarters of the calendar year 2023, as against $43.3 billion during the same period last year.
It, however, fared much better than the US, the UK and India, which registered steeper declines in VC funding during the same period.
China accounted for 15.8 per cent of VC funding deals announced globally during Q1-Q3 2023. Its share of the corresponding deal value stood at 17.6 per cent.
“A total of 2,417 venture capital (VC) funding deals were announced in China during the first three quarters (Q1-Q3) of 2023 while the disclosed funding value of these deals stood at $32.2 billion,” according to a report by data and analytics company GlobalData.
Also read: VC funding for India start-ups plummets by 71.5%
The total number of VC funding deals declined by 16.7 per cent during Q1-Q3 2023, compared to 2,901 during the same period last year.
“Although the VC funding activity in China declined both in terms of volume and value, it cannot be seen as a country-specific phenomenon. As investor sentiments have taken a hit owing to the volatile market conditions, subdued VC funding activity is now a global trend and China is not an exception to this,” Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, said.
Moreover, the decline in VC funding in China was lower than in the US, the UK, and India, he pointed out.
The VC funding deal volume in the US, the UK, and India dropped by 40.3 per cent, 25.9 per cent, and 42.3 per cent, respectively, during the period. The decline in the corresponding value for these markets was also relatively higher at 45.6 per cent, 43.1 per cent and 70.4 per cent respectively.
Investments in India
A total of 811 VC funding deals worth $5.5 billion were announced in India during the first three quarters of 2023, showing a decline of 42.3 per cent in terms of VC funding deal volume and 70.4 per cent in terms of disclosed funding value.
India accounted for 5.3 per cent share of VC funding deals announced globally during Q1-Q3 2023. Its share of the corresponding deals value stood at 3 per cent. Some of the notable VC funding deals announced in India during Q1-Q3 2023 include the $250-million fundraising by PhysicsWallah, $229 million funding raised by Perfios Software Solutions, $200-million fundraising by PhonePe, and $200 million funding raised by Zepto.