News Update

General Atlantic plans to invest $2 bn in Indian & SEA startups

• ByStartupStory     |    May 23, 2022

The Global private equity company General Atlantic aims to invest $2 billion in India and Southeast Asia over the next two years, after lowering valuations made the region’s startups more appealing.

Sandeep Naik, the president of General Atlantic’s operations in India and Southeast Asia, said in an interview that the company is in early-stage investment conversations with roughly 15 firms in areas such as technology, financial services, retail, and consumer. The startup market, particularly in India, is experiencing difficulties. Founders are struggling to get financing after raising a record $35 billion in 2021, generating worries of falling valuations and driving some to slash employment.

Chuck Feeney, the co-founder of Duty-Free Shoppers, founded General Atlantic in 1980 to invest in high-growth enterprises, encourage visionary creators like himself, and fund the Atlantic Philanthropies’ global charity endeavours, to which he has contributed nearly all of his money. General Atlantic is ready to ease its purse restraints after spending just $190 million on Indian companies in 2021, its lowest annual total ever, Naik said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

According to Naik, total more than $4.5 billion in investments, the majority of which are in India. Education technology businesses like Byju’s, which offers online instruction in a country where internet and smartphone use is rising and is valued at roughly $22 billion, are among General Atlantic’s existing high-profile Indian investments.

In India, it has invested in Reliance Retail, the country’s largest retailer, and in Southeast Asia, it owns PT MAP Boga Adiperkasa, Indonesian food and beverage store, and Kumu, a social entertainment platform in the Philippines. Due to the challenging market conditions and decreasing values, General Atlantic is encouraging all of its portfolio firms to consider consolidation options. 

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