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With the 2014 World Cup upon us, PitchBookdecided to take a look at the private equity and venture capital landscape among the 32 tournament qualifiers, see how each group stacks up and determine which countries would make it into the knockout stage if we were using deal count to rank them. What did we discover?
Since 2010, the year of the previous World Cup, PE and VC firms across the globe have invested in 29 of the 32 countries represented in this year’s tournament, spreading $1.5 trillion across 42,967 deals (through May 31, 2014). That massive total represents more than the combined 2013 GDP of all the Group F countries (Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iran and Nigeria). The United States, which resides in Group G this year, naturally makes up a bulk of that deal-making and capital invested. But even if you exclude Group G, which also includes Germany, Portugal and Ghana, the remaining 28 countries were able to pull in an astounding 9,161 private capital rounds worth $433.4 billion. PE and VC firms have also sold or taken public 8,820 of the 32 qualifying countries’ companies since 2010, all at a combined total of $1.4 trillion.
However, deal-making has dropped down a bit since the tournament qualifiers garnered a record 10,776 deals worth $338.0 billion in 2012. Last year, PE and VC firms invested more capital ($392.5 billion) across few rounds (10,283), but 2014 is on pace to be the slowest year for both since 2010.
The Groups
After Group G, Group D (which features Costa Rica, England, Italy and Uruguay) comes in second in deal count and capital invested, with 3,960 deals worth $183.3 billion since 2010.
One group clearly lags behind the rest in terms of PE and VC deal-making—Group F, which saw $3.4 billion invested across 61 deals over the last 4 ½ years. Argentina had the most deals out of that group, while Nigeria saw the most capital invested. Iran, due mainly to economic sanctions and international political issues, has not received any private capital financing since 2010, according to PitchBook data.
If the winners of each group were determined by deal count since 2010, we’d see Brazil, Spain, Japan, England, France, Argentina, the United States and Russia face off against the runners up from Groups A-H, which are Mexico, Netherlands, Colombia (or Greece, which tied Colombia in Group C), Italy, Switzerland, Nigeria, Germany and Belgium.
Brazil
The host country, Brazil (which we picked to win the tournament this year), leads Group A with 277 deals and $12.7 billion in capital invested since 2010. Investors there have put the B2C sector first, having completed 38% of their deals (27% of capital invested) in that sector. This fits in well with data we’ve analyzed previously, showing that the B2C sector—and internet retail in particular—makes up a larger portion of investment activity in developing countries than in the West.
PE and VC firms are also finding B2B and IT to be healthy industries in Brazil. Both sectors have comprised more than 20% of deal activity there since 2010.
The most active investors in Brazil include a mix of local firms and outside giants. VC firm Monashees Capital, based in Sao Paulo, came out on top with 21 financings since 2010, but big-name U.S. investors, such as 500 Startups, Tiger Global and Intel Capital, have also been active in Brazil. South American fund Kaszek Ventures helped round out the top five with 14 completed financings since 2010.
For more on private capital investment in Brazil and the World Cup countries, check out the datagraphic (by Jennifer Sam) below. Want to see more of our global data? Request a demo of the PitchBook Platform by clicking here. Also be sure to read all of our World Cup content, which includes additional datagraphics and comparisons, by clicking on our World Cup tag.
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