z21 Ventures, a leading VC firm focused on early-stage technology investments, announced a $20 million first close for a $40 million Fund II from anchor investor WestBridge Capital, a global investment firm renowned for its strategic focus and robust portfolio.
Fund II quickly follows an announcement of the VC firm’s first fund of $5 million in June 2024. Building on this success – which empowers 26 mission-driven startups – Fund II will continue to support disruptive technology companies across various sectors, including artificial intelligence, enterprise software and healthcare. And the fund’s primary focus will continue to be pre-seed and seed-stage investments in companies with strong teams, innovative technologies and large market opportunities.
z21 Ventures was launched by Raj Singh (formerly Innovaccer, McKinsey and co-founder IBC) and Abhinav Shashank (Co-founder and CEO, Innovaccer), with Jyotika Gupta (formerly Glassdoor) and Sudarshan Ravi Jha (co-founder of LetsTransport) as partners in the fund. And all four are alumni of IIT Kharagpur, bringing a wealth of experience and a shared mission of investing in the future of technology.
z21 Ventures has a unique community-first approach to enabling accelerated growth for founders. And Fund II will raise part of its capital from leading operators and experts who will mentor and support founders.
With the first closing of Fund II, z21 Ventures is well-capitalized for investing in disruptive technology companies and helping them achieve their full potential.
KEY QUOTES:
“We are thrilled to announce the first close of our second fund and welcome WestBridge Capital as our anchor investor. This successful fundraise is a validation of our community led model and our track record of identifying and supporting promising early-stage companies. We look forward to supporting entrepreneurs to build and scale purposeful companies by bringing the power of community and capital.”
-Raj Singh, co-founder and managing partner of z21 Ventures
“We are excited to partner with z21 Ventures and support their mission of investing in innovative technology companies. z21 Ventures is well-positioned to succeed, and their community-focused and operator-led model can provide valuable support for early-stage founders and help build category-defining companies.”
-Sumir Chadha, co-founder and managing partner of WestBridge Capital
“Our limited partner community helps us with early access to incredible founders and provides founders with deep functional and strategic expertise, strong connections and a supportive ecosystem in their initial journey. We are on a mission to unlock value for founders through a robust ecosystem.”
-Jyotika Gupta, partner at z21 Ventures
“AI is already disrupting the entire B2B SaaS stack, from infrastructure, data and middleware to apps and agents which will be deployed in almost every organization over the next few years. We’ve seen the era of systems of record (Salesforce and SAP), systems of intelligence (Innovaccer and Palantir), and now we will witness companies emerging as systems of action where multiple workflows at scale will be deployed.”
-Sudarshan Ravi Jha, partner at z21 Ventures
