GPCA Trends in Global Tech traces record venture capital flows across Africa, India, China, Southeast Asia, Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East. With VC representing 55% of total private capital invested in these markets in 2021, this report highlights the themes investors are backing in multiple markets; the fastest growing markets, from Nigeria to Pakistan; increasing investor collaboration across markets; and more.
GPCA DATA PACK
GPCA members can log in to download the accompanying GPCA VC Data Pack for 2021 VC fundraising and disclosed fund closes; exit totals and highlighted exits; disclosed investments over USD20m, sortable by stage, sector and HQ; as well as most active investors, fastest growing sectors, stage analysis, global investor participation and more. GPCA members can also access historic data through our GPC Analytics platform.
IN THIS REPORT
Top Sectors Across Markets |
Fastest Growing Countries |
VC as % of Total Private Capital |
Notable Tech Listings |
Investor Collaboration Across Markets |
Methodology |
Top Countries for VC Investment |
TOP SECTORS
Fintech, e-commerce and enterprise software are consistent themes across our markets of coverage. China stands alone in its support for biotech investment. Agtech, healthtech, edtech and logistics are on the rise, but still represent a relatively small share of the investment pie, and nascent themes like foodtech, cleantech and robotics are not on the map of most active sectors yet.
VC AS % OF PRIVATE CAPITAL INVESTMENT
VC as a proportion of overall private capital investment is rising substantially in all markets, and represented half or more of 2021 investment in all GPC markets except for the Middle East, where outsize oil and gas deals drove the bulk of capital invested.
CROSS-BORDER INVESTOR COLLABORATION
The flow of venture capital between global markets continues to grow, despite heightened geopolitical and trade tensions. US-headquartered investors were the most active across all of our markets of coverage, including China, which included activity from Sequoia Capital and Matrix Partners, the most active investors in Chinese VC deals in 2021, alongside local firms Qiming Venture Partners, Shunwei Capital Partners and others.
Local and global investors shared the leaderboard of most active investors in our markets, in terms of number of transactions, in 2021. Africa’s most active included EchoVC and Japanese firm Kepple Africa Ventures; India’s most active included Blume Ventures and Elevation Capital, alongside Tiger and Accel; as well as East Ventures and SOSV in Southeast Asia; monashees, Canary and Y Combinator in Latin America, Earlybird and Index Ventures in CEE; and Global Ventures and 500 Global in the Middle East.
Locally headquartered investors participated in at least two of three deals in Africa and CEE, at least three of four deals in Southeast Asia, Latin America, India and the Middle East, and nine in ten deals in China last year.
TOP COUNTRIES FOR VC INVESTMENT
Despite important policy and regulatory shifts in 2021, China remained the largest country for VC investment in GPC markets, with a record USD64.8b, surpassing a 2020 high of USD46.8b. Investment levels remained steady throughout 2021 with USD17.8b invested in Q1 2021, and over USD15b in each of the subsequent quarters. The largest recorded transactions were AI computing platform Horizon Robotics (USD1.5b), chip designer Chipone (USD1.2b) and EV energy company Svolt (USD942m), reflecting the shift from consumer segments to verticals such as robotics and electric vehicles.
India was the world’s fourth largest market for venture funding, following the US, UK and China, topping USD33b in 2021. Mega-rounds included Flipkart’s USD3.6b late-stage round from ADQ, CPP Investments, QIA, SoftBank, Tencent, Tiger Global and others, which was the largest venture deal on record in our markets in 2021.
Trendyol’s USD1.5b round from some of these same investors, as well as General Atlantic, helped drive Turkey’s VC investment to 1,625% above its 2020 levels.
Latin America featured prominently on our VC investment leaderboard, with Brazil (3), Mexico (6) and Colombia (9). View LAVCA’s 2022 Trends in Tech report for a deep dive on Latin America’s record year, with USD15.7b in venture investment, more than the previous ten years combined.
While some outlets report higher Southeast Asia numbers than GPCA, it is important to note that our VC figures for Indonesia do not include USD4.3b in growth equity funding that J&T Express raised in 2021. Our VC figures for Singapore exclude USD1.1b in growth equity funding rounds raised by Trax, Esco Lifesciences and bolttech.
Comparatively, US VC investment topped USD330b in 2021, according to PitchBook, followed by the UK (~USD39b) as well as France, Germany, Canada and Israel (all over USD10b).
BIGGEST MOVERS
Venture investment grew dramatically across the board in 2021, in terms of capital invested as well as deal activity. These countries were the biggest movers, with at least 200% year-over-year growth in terms of capital invested (and at least USD90m in disclosed VC investment in 2021); and at least 100% growth in deal terms (and at least 10 deals). Top 10 markets including Turkey and Argentina were excluded.
Venture capital is finally becoming a truly global game as investors commit capital to startups wherever opportunity and innovation emerges. But there is still a big gap to close; startups in the city of Boston alone raised more than all of these markets combined in 2021.
NOTABLE TECH LISTINGS
GPCA tracked a record USD72b in VC-backed exits across our markets in 2021, including market records for China, Southeast Asia and Latin America. It was also a record year for VC-backed public market exits across our markets, with USD51.6b, driven by listings for Asia-headquartered companies.
METHODOLOGY
GPCA’s venture capital (VC) investment dataset includes seed, early-stage and late stage investments with participation by blind-pool VC funds backed by institutional investors. Stand-alone investments by accelerators, incubators, angel investors, corporate or strategic investors and government-guidance funds are not included in current reporting, but may be incorporated in subsequent releases. Investment totals reflect the total transaction value for each deal — including co-investments from institutional and strategic investors.
GPCA’s data on cross-border investor collaboration identifies the participation of local or globally based GPs in VC investments in 2021. It also identifies the most active global investors in each market, based on the headquarters of the investment firm, and how their participation shifted from 2020 to 2021. For the purposes of this analysis, venture firms managing local funds but based outside the geographies in the data table were considered ‘global investors’. Notable examples include Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed and Matrix Partners (US-based), which manage China-dedicated funds, and Africa-focused investors such as DPI and Helios (UK-based). For more information on research methodology, please contact research@GPCapital.org.
GPCA DATA PACK
GPCA members can log in to download the accompanying GPCA VC Data Pack for 2021 VC fundraising and disclosed fund closes; exit totals and highlighted exits; disclosed investments over USD20m, sortable by stage, sector and HQ; as well as most active investors, fastest growing sectors, stage analysis, global investor participation and more. GPCA members can also access historic data through our GPC Analytics platform.
Additional Reading
GPCA’s 2022 Global Private Capital Industry Data and Analysis
GPCA’s 2022 Southeast Asia Startup Directory
LAVCA’s 2022 Industry Data and Analysis
LAVCA’s 2022 Trends in Latin American Tech