Synopsis
Tarun Davda, a key figure at Z47 for ten years, plans to exit the venture capital firm by year-end. Sources told us that Davda is exploring launching his own fund or returning to entrepreneurship. This departure follows other senior exits at Z47 and mirrors broader churn in India's venture capital sector.Listen to this article in summarized format
Davda, who has backed companies like Ola, software-as-a-service platform MoEngage, business-to-business (B2B) seafood startup Captain Fresh, joined Z47 almost 15 years ago to focus on early-stage consumer technology and software investments.
People in the know said, Davda has informed Z47 of his plans to exit the firm, and he will likely leave by the end of this year. Sources close to the development said that he was not evaluating and closing new investments for a year now and was focussed on Z47’s fundraising.
The likely exit of Davda, who was elevated to partner at the fund along with Vikram Vaidyanathan in 2016, adds to the broader churn at Z47, mirroring the continued top-level churn across the Indian venture capital industry in recent years.
According to a person aware of Davda's plans, he is exploring the launch of his own fund or may evaluate returning to entrepreneurship with a venture.
Other senior departures from Z47’s investment team include Pranay Desai and Sudipto Sannigrahi, both of whom left the firm in the past six months. Principal Chandrasekhar Venugopal also quit Z47 in May.
Another peer Peak XV Partners has seen a string of MDs exit this year, including Ashish Agrawal, Ishaan Mittal and Tejeshwi Sharma, who departed to start a new investment firm Mettle Capital, ET had reported exclusively in May. Last year, Shailesh Lakhani, Abheek Anand and Harshjit Sethi also stepped down from Peak XV. Lakhani and Sethi have since teamed up, along with Mayank Porwal, to launch Ambition Capital, another early-stage investment firm.
Davda’s departure comes at a time when Z47 is in discussions with limited partners (LPs), or fund sponsors, to raise a new fund which could range between $350-400 million. The new vehicle will be Z47's first independent fund since its split from Matrix Partners two years ago. Its previous fund, sized at $550 million, had closed in 2023.
Queries sent to Davda did not elicit a response. Z47 said in an email that the information is “blatantly false”.
Among Davda’s big bets that have brought in returns for the fund, Z47 has sold more than $150 million worth of shares in the company through secondary transactions. Ola, however, has struggled to fend off competition from younger rival Rapido, affecting its market share and valuation. Z47 has also fully exited its investment in MoEngage, snagging around $80 million, ET reported in November, while Captain Fresh is preparing for a public listing.
Matrix began operations in India in 2006, founded by Avnish Bajaj and Rishi Navani. Its current managing directors include Vaidyanathan, Rajinder Balaraman, Rajat Agarwal and Akash Kumar. Navani quit in 2016 to float his own firm Epiq Capital.
