Chennai: Private equity and venture capital (PE-VC) investments fell 5% year-on-year during the Jan-June period of CY2026 to $17.5 billion, compared with $18.4 billion in the corresponding period of CY2025. PE-VC investments, excluding those in the real estate sector, remained flat at $1.9 billion in June 2026, according to data released by research firm Venture Intelligence on Wednesday.Late-stage companies (those more than 10 years old or raising Series G or later rounds of institutional funding) continued to account for the largest share of investments during the period at $4.2 billion, followed by growth-stage and early-stage companies at $3.4 billion and $1.9 billion, respectively.Arun Natarajan, founder of Venture Intelligence, said PE-VC investments held up reasonably well in the second quarter of 2026 despite geopolitical uncertainties and volatility in the public markets.“Between new investment opportunities such as data centres and traditional favourite sectors like NBFCs, PE investors have deployed significant capital across larger transactions during the period. It is good to see other large global investors such as CPPIB, Oaktree and Advent International become active during the period, joining Blackstone, Carlyle and IFC, which have been active through the year,” he told TOI.Nidhi Killawala, partner at Khaitan & Co, said she expects a modest pickup in investments over the coming months.“Fundraising has held up well, so funds are sitting on plenty of dry powder and are under real pressure to put it to work. Financial services looks especially well placed to bounce back, and I would expect steady deployment into infrastructure, data centres and AI-linked opportunities to continue. If the IPO window opens up again, that should give things a further lift and bring pre-IPO and crossover activity back to life,” she said.