Private Equity/Venture Capital firms invested over $11.9 billion (across 188 deals) in the first 3 months of 2021, representing an increase of about 85% compared to the corresponding period in 2020, According to Venture Intelligence data, January to March 2020, the last pre-pandemic quarter, recorded PE-VC investments of $6.5 billion across 238 deals. The value of investments in Q1FY21 was also over 58% higher compared to the immediate previous quarter (which saw $7.5 billion being invested across 231 deals). Deal volumes in the period, however, dipped 21% compared to Q1FY20 and down 19% compared to the previous quarter, the Venture Intelligence data showed. Venture Intelligence said that the appetite for investing in high scale technology startups gathered further momentum in the first quarter of 2021, led by the over $400 million rounds of investments attracted by three unicorns: food delivery focused Zomato, edtech leader Byjus Classes, and e-sports company Dream11.