Start-up investors are doing fewer deals

Venture capital (VC) firms are doing fewer deals but are willing to write bigger cheques for start-ups that are doing well. The average ticket size for VC deals in start-ups rose to $9.38 million in 2017, up from $7.63 million in 2016, even as VCs invested in fewer start-ups. This does not include what start-ups raised from angel or seed-stage deals.

Start-ups raised $3.15 billion in 2017 in venture capital from 336 deals, a notch lower than $3.45 billion raised in 2016 from 452 deals, according to an early estimate by VCCEdge, the data arm of VCCircle. ‘‘Investors have raised the bar. They are willing to invest more in start-ups that are doing well,” says Ajay Hattangadi, former chief executive officer,