India's Venture Capital Grows While China Flails

In Q1 of 2022, Indian venture capital funding almost doubled year-over-year as investors are focusing increasingly on the market following China’s introduction of new regulatory measures in its tech sector.

The trend already became visible last year but new developments show that India could soon profit even more from the pivot towards it. According to CB Insights, the larger Chinese VC market has been losing significant steam over the past year, with Q1 numbers now below last year's spending. At a loss of 44 percent year-over-year, Chinese investment of $12.7 billion is now not that far removed from spending in India, which totalled $8 billion in Q1 of 2022.

While Asia remained the second biggest region for VC funding after North America and ahead of Europe, it topped the charts for IPOs in Q1 of 2022, with 91 companies going public ahead of 27 in North America.

Top Indian VC deals in this year's first quarter included $700m for Swiggy and $400m for Byju's, according to CB Insights.