Venture capital firm Z3Partners, which invests in tech and digital businesses, has hit the final close of its Z3 Partners Tech Fund at about $67 million (Rs550 crore).
Leading global and domestic institutions and family offices participated in the fund, including HDFC Life and SIDBI, Z3Partners said in a statement on Tuesday.
Concurrently, Z3Partners announced that Rishi Maheshwari has joined the firm as co-founder and managing partner.
Z3Partners’ fund will primarily invest in 8-10 early- to growth-stage companies across SaaS, fintech, e-commerce, B2B commerce, agritech, big data, and tech-enabled, and digital sectors, with a ticket size ranging from $6 million to $10 million, the statement said.
The fund has already made five investments: cybersecurity startup Cyfirma, social e-commerce firm DealShare, agri-tech platform Gramophone, SaaS-based logistics management leader Shipsy, and AI-led celebrity engagement platform True-Fan.
DealShare had become a unicorn in 2022 after a $165 million Series E financing round.
Apart from providing financing assistance, Z3Partners closely engages with founders to help them refine their go-t0-market (GTM) and makes customer introductions to accelerate growth. The firm also lends support from time to time in helping its portfolio companies with their digital and product marketing strategies, and developing and retaining senior talent.
Founded in 2019 by Gautam Patel, whose prior investments have been BigBasket, MedGenome, OFBusiness, and Pepperfry, Z3Partners invests across early- to growth-stage companies in Series A and B stages of their growth.
“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. The same philosophy is reflected across our LP based too, with market leaders like HDFC Life and SIDBI as our Fund investors; resulting in a final close well ahead of schedule. We are also delighted to welcome Rishi to Z3Partners. He and I invested in BigBasket together and are looking forward to building Z3Partners into the premium digital and tech investment platform of choice in India,” said Gautam Patel, founder & managing partner, Z3 Partners.
Rishi Maheshwari has over 18 years of investment management and investment banking experience across the US, India and emerging markets. He has held several senior management and board positions in organisations locally and internationally.