PremiumSo far, it has invested in five startups through the fund including social e-commerce unicorn DealShare, cybersecurity firm Cyfirma, agri-tech platform Gramophone, logistics management startup Shipsy, and celebrity engagement platform True-Fan.
NEW DELHI: Z3Partners, a venture capital (VC) fund focused on India’s digital and technology companies, on Tuesday marked the final close of its Z3Partners Tech Fund at ₹550 crore.
The firm has raised funds from investors, including domestic and global institutions and family offices. These include Europe-based Orient growth fund, Bikbergen Sàrl Family office, US-based Stone Ventures, Kenya-based SVG group. In India, the company raised funds from ACME Family office, Narotam Sekhsaria Family Office (NSFO), Parle Family office, HDFC Life and Small Industries Development Bank of India, among others.
The debut fund, first launched in 2019, had announced its first close in January 2021.
So far, it has invested in five startups through the fund including social e-commerce unicorn DealShare, cybersecurity firm Cyfirma, agri-tech platform Gramophone, logistics management startup Shipsy, and celebrity engagement platform True-Fan.
Through the fund, Z3Partners plans to make concentrated bets with about 8 - 10 investments in digital and tech startups across industries such as software-as-a-service, fintech, e-commerce, business-to-business commerce, agritech, big data, consumer-tech , it said in a statement. The investments will have an average ticket size of ₹50 crore to ₹80 crore (around $6 million to $10 million). It has another deal in the pipeline, and expects to close all its investments in the next 24 months.
“We invest in early-growth companies that have been around for three-five years and do ₹2 crore to ₹3 crore of revenue per month," Gautam Patel, founder and managing partner told VCCircle, adding that startups with good capital efficiency, margins, which are market leaders in their niche, and with large customers are factors that usually drive the investment.
Mumbai-based Z3Partners, founded in 2019 by Patel, invests across companies in Series A and Series B stages.
“At Z3Partners, our vision is to identify the most disruptive and cutting edge startups and provide them with necessary support to grow into market leaders," said Patel.
He previously co-founded early-stage technology investment firm Zodius Capital, which was acquired by Mumbai based financial services firm Avendus Capital in 2017. His prior investments include Bigbasket, MedGenome, OfBusiness, Pepperfry, among others.
The firm also appointed Rishi Maheshwari, who previously worked at White Oak Capital, as co-founder and managing partner.
“In my opinion, India continues to be an attractive investment destination. I am excited and look forward to working with Gautam in building Z3Partners," said Maheshwari.
Z3Partners marked the first close of the fund at about ₹103 crore and second close at ₹250 crore in 2021. The firm works as an investor-operator, working closely with its portfolio companies.
The fund helps its investee companies with their go-to-market strategy, finding potential customers, digital product marketing and strategy among others.