India saw $25 billion in private capital-backed exits in 2023 and $11.5 billion in the first half of 2024, according to new data from the Global Private Capital Association.

Why it matters: While the rest of the world — including the U.S. — has been struggling with a dearth of exits, deal value in India increased by 46% and deal count by 51%, year-over-year.

The big picture: The Indian exit boom is thanks to a few factors, namely favorable macro conditions and investor-friendly government policies, GPCA says. Plus, the rise of retail investors has boosted the public markets, Indian corporate acquirers have been active, asset managers have adopted continuation funds, and the rupee has been stable.

State of play: Exit levels across all categories in India have increased compared to pre-pandemic levels.

• "Despite a decrease in the number of strategic buyer exits in 2023, exit value grew, indicating larger deal sizes as Indian corporates play a more significant role," notes the GPCA.
• 2024 is also the highest first-half exit level (excluding the market peak of 2021) despite no transaction being over $1 billion, highlighting a breadth of activity.
• The GPCA also reports that since 2020, "India has accounted for 58% of total private capital deal value in Asia involving Middle East based investors and 51% of the number of such deals​."

By the numbers: India captured the highest share (37%) of overall exit value across all global markets not counting North America and Europe, over the last 18 months — even surpassing China, which made up 29% of exit value.

• Public market exits: $12.9 billion in 2023, $8.1 billion in H1 2024.
• Secondaries: $6.6 billion in 2023, $2.2 billion in H1 2024.
• Strategic M&A: $5.8 billion in 2023, $1.1 billion in H1 2024.

The bottom line: No wonder more than one VC has mentioned to me India as a new area of interest recently.

Informa has agreed to acquire Ascential, the owner of the Money20/20 and Cannes Lions conferences, for about £1.2 billion ($1.5 billion) in cash.

Why it's the BFD: While the media industry is still struggling to squeeze revenue from advertising, live events are a bright spot.

Zoom in: Informa will pay Ascential investors about £5.68 per share, a 53% premium to the its closing share price on Monday.

• Informa said it will help expand the Money20/20 conference into the Middle East and Africa to take advantage of investor interest.

The bottom line: "Ascential is one of the few remaining events companies of any scale. Analysts at Peel Hunt said Ascential's events were 'prestigious ones, with longevity of growth, which should merit a premium valuation.' Analysts at MKP Advisors said there was unlikely to be any counter offers: 'Informa management has a good track record in dealmaking and is likely to get the benefit of the doubt to deliver on any M&A deal.'" — Daniel Thomas and Arash Massoudi, FT

• Vanta, an SF compliance and security software company, raised $150m in Series C funding at a $2.45b valuation led by Sequoia Capital, with Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, JPMorgan, Atlassian Ventures, Craft Ventures, CrowdStrike Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, Workday Ventures and Y Combinator also participating. vanta.com

• Harvey, an SF AI legal tech startup, raised $100m in Series C funding at a $1.5b valuation led by GV, with OpenAI, Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, Elad Gil, and SV Angel. The company has raised a total of $206m. axios.link/3Wgi8Ia

• Exottica, a Spanish online vacation package seller, raised €60m in Series D funding led by Quadrille Capital, with All Iron, ICF, 14W, Mangrove, Bonsai, Sabadell and Aldea also participating. axios.link/3YfQrBG

🚑 Pearl, an L.A. dental diagnosis startup, raised $58m in Series B funding led by Left Lane Capital with Smash Capital, Alpha Partners, Craft Ventures, and Neotribe Ventures also participating. axios.link/4dbeUMQ

• Dazz, a Palo Alto, Calif., cybersecurity startup, raised $50m in new funding at a reported $400m post-money valuation led by Greylock Partners, Cyberstarts, Insight Partners and Index Ventures. axios.link/4feyxp7

• Myrta, an SF warehouse robotics startup, raised $50m in Series B funding led by Greenoaks. axios.link/3yb4Zbc

🚑 Clarapath, a White Plains, N.J. medical robotics company, raised $36m in Series B-1 funding led by Northwell Ventures, with CU Healthcare Innovation Fund, Mayo Clinic, and Ochsner Ventures also participating. axios.link/46i2BvW

• QA Wolf, a Seattle software debugging startup, raised $36m in Series B funding led by Scale Venture Partners, from Threshold Ventures, Ventureforgood, Inspired Capital, and Notation Capital. axios.link/4cRwFRL

• Posh, an N.Y. event management startup, raised $22m in Series A funding led by Goodwater Capital, with FirstMark Capital, Companyon Ventures, and Epic Ventures also participating. axios.link/3A4aDwh

• Maurten, a Swedish maker of hydrogel-based athletic products, raised $22m in funding led by IRIS Ventures. axios.link/3y8rYUs

• Lakera, an SF generative AI security startup, raised $20m in Series A funding led by Atomico, with Citi Ventures, Dropbox Ventures, and redalpine also participating. lakera.ai

• Caldera, an SF blockchain developer tools startup, raised $15m in Series A funding led by Founders Fund, with Dragonfly, Sequoia Capital, Arkstream Capital, Lattice, and others also participating. caldera.xyz

• Code Metal, a Boston developer tools startup, raised $13m in seed funding led by Shield Capital, and a prior $3.45m pre-seed round led by J2 Ventures, with Fulcrum Venture Group, Underdog Labs, and others also participating. codemetal.ai

🌎 Splight, an SF energy grid management software startup, raised $12m in funding led by noa, with Elewit, EDP Ventures, Draper Cygnus, Draper B1, Ascent Energy Ventures, Fen Ventures, Reaction Global, Barn Investments, the UC Berkeley Foundation, and others also participating. splight-ai.com

• Bitlayer, a Singaporean Bitcoin startup, raised $11m in Series A funding at a $300m valuation led by ABCDE and Franklin Templeton. axios.link/3Yh3H9f

• Igloo, the Miami-based parent company of NFT collection Pudgy Penguins, raised $11m in funding led by Founders Fund, with Fenbushi Capital, 1kx, Everest Ventures Group, and Selini Capital. igloo.inc

• Vijil, a Menlo Park, Calif. AI agent startup, raised $6m in funding from Mayfield and Gradient Ventures. vijil.ai

• Rift, an SF sales software startup, raised $5m in seed funding led by Sequoia Capital, with Y Combinator and Soma Capital also participating. rift.com

• Zest Security, an N.Y. enterprise cloud security startup, raised $5m in seed funding from Hanaco Ventures, Silvertech Ventures, and angel investors. zestsecurity.io

• Promptfoo, an SF AI app security startup, raised $5m in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. promptfoo.dev

🚑 Endless Health, an Austin hearth health testing startup, raised $4.5m in seed funding led by Next Coast Ventures, with Antler Elevate and Asset Management Ventures also participating. axios.link/3YiBqiQ

🚑 RevealDX, a Seattle lunch cancer imaging startup, raised $4.25m in funding from unnamed investors. axios.link/4cKkQwx

🚑 RxDiet, an N.Y. custom diet startup, raised $3m in seed funding led by Giant Ventures, with Better Ventures and Form Life also participating. axios.link/46jZwvt

• AppMagic, a Tampa, Fla., mobile app market research startup, raised $3m in Series A funding led by GEM Capital, with Vibranium also participating. appmagic.rocks

• Farmblox, a Boston farm operation automation startup, raised $2.5m in seed funding led by Hyperplane, with Slow Ventures, MHS Capital, and Service Provider Capital also participating. farmblox.ag

• NetFabric, a Swiss network performance management startup, raised $2.2m in pre-seed funding led by Founderful and Playfair Capital. axios.link/4bUWcYP

• Applied Systems, backed by Hellman & Friedman, Stone Point Capital, JMI Equity and CapitalG, acquired Planck, an N.Y. insurance tech company. planckdata.com

⛽️ Archrock agreed to acquire Total Operations and Product Services, a Midland, Texas, provider of contract gas compression services, from Apollo for $983 million. axios.link/3ymNuVo

🚑 Ares Management, HPS Investment Partners, and others are providing a $3b credit facility to finance Carlyle's potential acquisition of Baxter International's kidney-care division, including a $2.5b unitranche loan and a $450m revolver, with Oaktree also providing some financing, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3Wzncsi

• Avance Investment Management invested in Alchemy Technology Group, a Houston IT consulting and reseller firm. alchemytechgroup.com

• Intelvio, backed by Eden Capital, acquired Professional Crisis Management Association. intelvio.com

• The Exigent Group, backed by Huron Capital, acquired Smith-Boughan Mechanical and Electrical Automation Systems. huroncapital.com

• Mubadala Capital agreed to acquire a majority stake Bugaboo Group, a Dutch maker of strollers and premium children's consumer products, from Bain Capital, which retains a minority stake. axios.link/3YfI5Ko

🌎 Partners Group agreed to acquire Eteck, a Dutch provider of sustainable decentralized heating and cooling products, from Infracapital and other minority shareholders. eteck.nl

🚑 Medline, a Northfield, Ill., medical supplies company backed by Blackstone, Carlyle, and Hellman & Friedman, is reportedly exploring a 2025 IPO for a valuation as high as $50b, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3Smhh7o

• OneStream, a Birmingham, Mich., enterprise software for financial management and reporting, raised $490m after pricing shares at $20, above its $17 to $19 range. It plans to list on the Nasdaq as OS. Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, KKR, BofA Securities, Citi, Guggenheim Securities, Raymond James, Scotia Capital, Truist Securities, BTIG, Needham & Co., Piper Sandler, TD Cowen, Nomura Securities, and WR Securities acted as joint bookrunners on the deal. axios.link/3Yi80RY

• Cyabra, an Israeli social media disinformation monitoring startup, plans to merge with Trailblazer Merger Corporation I and list on Nasdaq. axios.link/4cU1dlR

• Launch Two Acquisition, a blank check company targeting tech and software infrastructure businesses, filed for a $200m IPO. axios.link/4bYTqC3

🚑 Owens & Minor (NYSE: OMI), agreed to acquire Rotech Healthcare Holdings, an Orland, Fla., home care business, for $1.36b in cash. rotech.com

• Deep Future, a deeptech venture firm, raised $17m for its first fund. axios.link/3WgvnZs

• Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures, the Boston insurance company's venture arm, committed $200m for its second venture fund. axios.link/4fdQdkP

🚑 Share Ventures, an L.A. venture studio focused on longevity founded by MoviePass' Hamet Watt, is raising $20m from Amazon and Alphabet. axios.link/46h9hKO

• Adams Street Partners, a Chicago private markets investment firm, appointed Jim Walker as partner and global head of wealth. He was previously a partner and chief operating officer at Adams Street. adamsstreetpartners.com

• Churchill Asset Management, an N.Y. investment firm, hired Robert Paun as managing director, and head of investor relations for retail & wealth. He was previously head of investor relations at FS Investments. churchillam.com

• East Rock Capital, an N.Y. multi-family office, hired Alexandra Schueler as senior director of strategic engagement. She was previously at the Milken Institute. eastrockcap.com

• Pretium, an N.Y. investment firm, hired Liz Bowyer as a senior managing director to lead corporate affairs. She was previously executive vice president of corporate affairs at Hertz. pretium.com

Meta topped Big Tech in lobbying spending for the second quarter of 2024, and ByteDance spent more than ever, as both companies grappled with regulatory threats, per my colleague Ashley Gold.

Why it matters: Tech regulation may move slowly, and more bills ultimately die than make it to the floor. But when there is action, tech companies are willing to shell out to fight off legislation they don't like.

Zoom in: AI companies still don't spend nearly as much as Big Tech, but they're spending more and more by quarter.

• OpenAI: $460,000 compared to $340,000 the previous quarter
• C3 AI: $130,000 compared to $60,000 the previous quarter
• A16Z: $660,000 compared to $280,000 the previous quarter
• Anthropic: $150,000 compared to $100,000 the previous quarter