PE-VC investments pick up in Feb

Chennai: After a subdued start to the year, investments in India's private equity and venture capital (PE-VC) segment rose 36.8% month-on-month (MoM) in Feb 2026 to $2.6 billion, compared with $1.9 billion in the same month last year. The investment figures exclude deals in the real estate sector. The rebound follows a sharp decline in January, when PE-VC investments fell 62.5% MoM (Jan 2026 versus Jan 2025). Data released by research firm Venture Intelligence on Monday showed that cumulative investments during Jan–Feb this year stood at $4.3 billion across 209 deals. Arun Natarajan, founder of Venture Intelligence, said Feb was a busy month for PE investors, driven by mega deals in the data centre space — led by the Blackstone–Neysa transaction — and the BFSI sector, supported by two major deals in the home loans segment. "Both foreign and domestic PE investors confidently pulled the trigger on large control and buyout transactions, exemplified by Carlyle's buyout of Nido Home Finance from Edelweiss Financial Services and ChrysCapital's acquisition of publicly listed pharmaceutical firm Novartis India," he told TOI. Interestingly, cumulative investments this year showed early-stage companies — defined as firms less than five years old — attracting higher funding of $723 million compared with $652 million raised by growth-stage companies, the data added. Sagar Agarwal, founder and managing partner at Beams Fintech Fund, said the higher allocation to early-stage firms reflects valuation corrections that occurred earlier in the cycle, enabling investor confidence to return faster. "In the near term, early-stage momentum may continue. However, as exit markets stabilise and larger companies demonstrate consistent performance, growth-stage activity should pick up again. This is more a sequencing effect in the cycle than a structural shift," he added. End of Article