VC Snapshot: January

Venture capital invested soared to an astonishing $14 billion in January, with 50 different rounds generating $50 million or more. To be fair, $3.3 billion of the capital invested came from one deal—the merged Meituan-Dianping finalized a round that valued it at $18 billion—but the nearly 900 other financings did represent a considerable amount more than the same time period last year. During the month, nearly 50% of all capital invested went to companies in the IT sector ($6.7B), followed by healthcare ($2.7B).

January’s signature VC-backed exit was notable for reasons that not many would cheer. One-time unicorn Gilt Groupe was purchased for $250 million in an all-cash deal by Hudson's Bay (TSE: HBC), $31 million less than the amount of VC the company had raised during its lifetime. With the complete absence of U.S. IPOs, VC-backed exits during the month were dominated by acquisitions, which constituted roughly 77%. The largest exit of January goes to Meilishuo of China, which was purchased by Mogujie.com for $3 billion; its backers included GGV Capital and Sequoia Capital.

Fundraising finished off a strong month, with 13 of the 23 closed funds hitting at least the $100 million mark. Norwest Venture Partners closed its third straight $1.2 billion fund in Norwest Venture Partners XIII, and Sequoia Capital India V closed on $920 million as the only other vehicle to near $1 billion in commitments. In total, almost $5 billion was collected for funds closed in January.

625 VC investors were active during the month; 164 completed more than one investment. Index Ventures and Innovacorp led the way with 10 deals each. Almost 60% of the investors active during January are headquartered in the U.S. and 21% are based in Europe.

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