US-headquartered venture capital firm Matrix Partners has rebranded its India and China units while food delivery giant Zomato has received a GST demand of over Rs 9.45 crore for 2019-20.
Matrix Partners rebrands India, China arms
US-headquartered venture capitalist Matrix Partners is rebranding its India unit to z47 while its China arm will be renamed as MPC, according to an announcement.
“The new [India unit] name is inspired by India’s journey towards a developed country by 2047, with India’s founder and digital ecosystem at the heart of its growth story.”
There will not be any change to the operations of existing Matrix Partners India funds or its early-stage and founders-focused strategy.
“This change also reflects our responsiveness to regional market dynamics and a continued focus on competing locally,” the firm further stated.
Matrix, which entered India in 2006, has been an extremely active investor and counts unicorns like Ola, Razorpay, and OfBusiness, among its portfolio firms.
Meanwhile, Matrix Partners became one of the latest China-focused VC firms to shed its Silicon Valley lineage. So far, several blue-chip investment firms including the likes of Hongshan (previously Sequoia Capital China); Lanchi Ventures (earlier BlueRun Ventures China); and Jiyuan Capital (formerly GGV Capital), which manages GGV’s yuan-denominated funds independently, have undertaken rebranding exercises.
Zomato gets GST notice
Zomato, a food delivery and quick commerce startup in India that attained unicorn status in 2018, received a GST demand of over Rs 9.45 crore for the financial year 2019-20, the company informed the bourses.
The notice, issued by Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Audit), Karnataka, reportedly stated that the company has to pay GST of Rs 5,01,95,462, along with interest of Rs 3,93,58,743, and penalty of Rs 50,19,546, amounting to Rs 9,45,73,751 in total.
“We believe that we have a strong case on merits and the company will be filing an appeal against the order before the appropriate authority,” said the company in response to the tax notice.
This is not the first time the company has received a notice from GST authorities. Earlier this year, on April 19, there was a GST demand of Rs 11.82 crore for the export services that the company offers to its subsidiaries outside the country. Prior to that, on April 1, it received a Rs 184 crore tax demand for allegedly availing excess input tax credit.