Asia-Pacific venture capital transactions dropped by a fifth in the third quarter as soft figures from China's economy kept buyers at bay from mega infrastructure investments.
According to data published by KPMG on Monday, the total value of payments dropped to US$14.90 billion from US$18.60 billion in the previous quarter.
The consulting firm related the lower volume to the downturn triggered by the continuing trade tussle between the United States and China. The fall was steeper than the international trade decrease of 14 percent to US$55.70 billion.
Seven of the region's 10 deals involved Chinese mainland companies, while the rest were made up of Indian startups, according to KPMG. But none, relative with four of this year's first six months, reached the billion-dollar mark.
"The Asian market has a lot of interest, but shareholders have really slowed down their company," said Egidio Zarrella, KPMG China's partner, and consumer and technology manager.
"We are cautious, willing to see where things are going from an economic and geopolitical point of view," Zarrella said.
Last year, the second-largest economy in the world expanded by 6 percent, the slowest since its solid runs began in the early weeks of March 1992.
China's complicated tit-for-tat trade spat with Washington has caused many multinational producers and investors to shy away and move their factories abroad, allowing their development engines to die down over the past six months.
Anti-government ruckuses in Hong Kong, on the other hand, are also pulling back growth in the local economy, with shares weakening the most in four years.
Last quarter's largest transaction involved e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, working with private equity firm Yunfeng Capital to invest more than US$700 million in NetEase Cloud Music for a minority stake.
There are about 132 million active monthly customers in the music streaming service, the fifth largest in the sector, according to the Alibaba-owned South China Morning Post.
Toyota Motor has invested US$600 million in Didi Chuxing, a Chinese ride-hailing company, while CHJ Automotive, a Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, has received US$ 530 million from its latest fundraising round.
Chinese electric carmaker Byton received $500 million while Indian software developer Ola finished the top five list with funding of $491 million.
According to KPMG reports, there have been two-billion-dollar acquisitions in each of the preceding two years, including Singapore-based ride-hailing firm Grab (US$4.4 billion), Chinese software company Chehaoduo (US$1.4 billion), Indian OYO Rooms (US$1.2 billion) and Beijing-based JD Health (US$1.1 billion).
