We see liquidity and credit returning early next year: Investcorp on funding winter in Indian startups

We see liquidity and credit returning early next year: Investcorp on funding winter in Indian startups

Mohammed Alardhi.



Middle East Alternative Asset Manager Investcorp has seen its AUM surge from $10 billion to $42.7 billion in the last seven years. In India, the Bahrain headquartered firm backs several startups like Xpressbees, Wingreens, FreshToHome and Incred. The company, which counts Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Mubadala as one of its investors, has pumped in more than $500 million in India across both the private equity and real estate space.

Moneycontrol’s Ashwin Mohan caught up with the top brass of Investcorp -- Mohammed Alardhi, Executive Chairman of Investcorp, and Rishi Kapoor, the Co-CEO of Investcorp -- for a chat on their India strategy, the funding winter in the startup ecosystem, and consequent m&a action, top sectoral bets and more….

(Edited Excerpts)

Ashwin Mohan: Mohammed, let's dive into the ongoing slowdown in funding as far as the Indian startup ecosystem is concerned -- a space familiar to Investcorp. You have made several investments in the startup sector across the world. Now, venture funding data, especially in Q3, represents or reflects a very bleak picture when it comes to startup funding in India and this is across various stages of growth. The other factor that we're noticing is that there are hardly any