Z47

Z47 Research

Investment Thesis

Z47 (rebranded from Matrix Partners India in July 2024) is a Bengaluru-headquartered venture capital firm founded in 2006 as the Indian arm of Matrix Partners. Following Matrix's global reorganization into independently branded regional entities (Matrix in the US, MPC in China, Z47 in India), the firm now operates fully independently under local leadership. The name "Z47" is inspired by India's stated ambition to become a developed nation by 2047, reflecting the firm's founder-first, operator-driven philosophy: the investment team is composed largely of former founders and operators who believe in backing people over markets, entering early, and staying with entrepreneurs through every phase of company building.

Stage Focus

Z47 invests from Seed through Series B, with a strong bias toward being an early institutional partner. The firm will occasionally do pre-seed and selective growth-stage follow-ons for existing portfolio companies, but its core sweet spot is Seed to Series A.

Check Size

Typical investment range is $1M–$20M, with a reported sweet spot around $5M per initial check. The firm reserves capital for follow-on rounds in its strongest performers.

Lead Tendency

Z47 frequently leads or co-leads rounds (e.g., co-led DSLR Technologies'/Aramya's ₹80 Cr Series A with Accel India in February 2026, and co-led Ambak's ₹69 Cr Series A with Peak XV Partners in June 2026), though it also participates alongside other leads on later or more competitive rounds (e.g., Oolka's Accel-led Series A).

Recent Activity

Z47 has been active through 2025-2026 across fintech, consumer, and AI-enabled financial services:

• June 2026: Co-led a Series A in Ambak, a home-loan marketplace
• 2026: Participated in Oolka's $14M Series A (Accel-led) to scale its AI credit-agent platform
• September 2025: Co-led (with Lightspeed) Oolka's $7M seed round
• February 2026: Co-led DSLR Technologies' (parent of D2C ethnic-wear brand Aramya) ₹80 Cr Series A with Accel India
• The firm closed a ~$550M fund in 2023 (its largest to date) and has continued deploying steadily since

Z47 has also been reported (October 2024) to be exploring a ~$150-200M secondary stake sale in IPO-bound portfolio company OfBusiness, in which it holds roughly a 10.8% stake — a sign of active portfolio monetization ahead of expected 2025-2026 listings.

Portfolio Highlights

Z47's portfolio spans 200+ companies with 10+ unicorns, including:

• Razorpay (payments infrastructure)
• Ola and Ola Electric (mobility, EVs)
• OfBusiness (B2B commerce, IPO-bound)
• Dailyhunt (local-language content platform)
• Jupiter (consumer neobank)
• MoEngage (marketing automation cloud)
• GoKwik (e-commerce checkout/enablement)
• Stanza Living (tech-enabled student housing)
• Country Delight (D2C dairy and fresh foods)
• Captain Fresh (B2B seafood marketplace)
• DealShare (social commerce)
• Ambak, Oolka, DSLR Technologies/Aramya (recent 2025-2026 additions)

Team

• Avnish Bajaj — Founder and Investor
• Tarun Davda — Managing Director, Investments
• Vikram Vaidyanathan — Managing Director, Investments
• Rajinder Balaraman — Managing Director, Investments
• Aakash Kumar — Managing Director, Investments
• Anish Patil — Principal, Investments (fintech / consumer tech focus)
• Kishan Kashyap — VP, Investments (SaaS / health tech focus)
• Rupali Sharma — Managing Director, Human Capital (appointed Director, Human Capital in December 2024; promoted to Managing Director in December 2025) — partners with founders on early-stage team building and org design

Decision Process

Z47 operates as a partnership of managing directors and investment principals rather than a solo-GP structure; investment decisions run through the MD/partner group, consistent with its "founders first" operating model of pairing capital with hands-on operator support.

Founder Preferences

Z47 explicitly backs "people over markets" — it looks for technical and operator-minded founders addressing large India-specific or India-to-global opportunities, with a preference for entering as an early, hands-on partner rather than a passive later-stage check-writer.

Geographic Focus

Overwhelmingly India-focused, with offices in Bengaluru, Delhi, and Mumbai. Portfolio companies target both the Indian consumer/enterprise market and global markets served from India.

AUM and Fund History

At the time of its July 2024 rebrand, Matrix Partners India/Z47 reported having deployed roughly $1.5B since entering India in 2006. Its most recent disclosed fund closed at approximately $550M in 2023, one of the largest India-focused VC funds raised to date. (Note: third-party aggregators cite AUM figures ranging from ~$1.2B to ~$3.5B; the $1.5B figure is the firm's own self-reported cumulative deployment figure and is treated as the more reliable anchor here.)