Private equity and venture capital firms have invested $970 million in manufacturers of consumer electronics worldwide year to date through July 31, paving the way for a second straight year with total deal value exceeding $1 billion, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

Private equity investment value in the sector has been on a steady increase since 2019. This year, the data suggests investments are on track to continue the trend with deal value as of July 31 already at about 90% of the $1.08 billion total in all of 2022.

In the first seven months of 2023, the number of announced and completed deals, including acquisitions of whole companies, minority stakes, assets and rounds of funding, totaled 26. In full year 2022, the total was 48.

– Download a spreadsheet with data featured in this story. – Read about global venture capital investment activity in July. – Set up alerts for future Data Dispatches.

Top deals

The Carlyle Group Inc.'s offer to buy Meopta-optika s.r.o. is the top deal so far in 2023 at $749.2 million. Meopta is a Czech Republic-based developer of optical-mechanical equipment for the consumer, commercial, industrial and military markets. The Rausnitz family will retain a minority ownership stake in the business.

The transaction is expected to close in 2023, subject to customary regulatory approvals. Goldman Sachs and Deloitte were financial advisers to Meopta, and Dentons was legal counsel.

The second-largest deal is the $100 million series C funding round of San Francisco-headquartered Humane Inc. Kindred Ventures LLC led the round that wrapped up March 8. Investors that participated included SK Networks Co. Ltd., Microsoft Corp., LG Technology Ventures, Volvo Cars Technology Fund, Top Tier Capital Partners LLC and Socium Ventures.

Active investors

From 2019 to 2023, there were 14 private equity investors that were involved in at least three transactions in the sector. Qualcomm Ventures LLC topped the list of most active investors during the period, having participated in four deals.