IT sector attracts USD 87 million VC investments in Q1 2008 Press Trust of India, New Delhi, May 13, 2008: IT and IT enabled services sector has emerged as the preferred space for Venture Capital investments in the country in the first three months this year, attracting over two-third of the total deals worth 144 million dollar, a latest report says. "With 14 deals worth about 87 million dollars, the Information Technology and IT-Enabled Services (IT & ITES) industry retained its status as the overwhelming favourite among VC investors during Q1 '08," according to a latest report by research firm Venture Intelligence Service. During the quarter, Venture Capital firms have invested 144 million dollars through 21 deals, a sharp decline compared to the corresponding period previous year which had recorded 28 deals worth 173 million dollars. The maximum VC investment was attracted by online travel portal Cleartrip.Com of about 18.5 million dollars from DAG Ventures. Further, Deeya Energy attracted (USD 15 million) investment from New Enterprise Association, Soham Renewable Energy (USD 15 million) from D E Shaw and Ikya Human Capital (USD 8 million) from India Equity Partners. However, there has been a significant growth in terms of the deal size of the investments. "Online Services companies dominated the quarter accounting for a 75 per cent share of the invested capital," Venture Intelligence CEO Arun Natarajan said. "About 10 out of 21 deals during the quarter came within the range of 5-10 million dollars," Natarajan said. The same stood at six out of 28 deals within the range of 2-5 million dollars. PTI Back