Matrix Partners India Promotes 3 Principals As Managing Directors

Matrix Partners India has elevated three of its principals to the role of managing directors (MDs).

The newly appointed MDs are Aakash Kumar, Pranay Desai, and Sudipto Sannigrahi, Matrix Partners India said in response to Inc42’s queries.

Desai became a part of Matrix in 2021, where his primary role involved spearheading investments in B2B Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) ventures. During his tenure, he closely collaborated with various portfolio companies such as Moengage, Rocketlane, Superops, 100ms, Murf, and Toddle.

Before joining Matrix, Desai served as the director of growth marketing at Freshworks, a company listed on Nasdaq. In the later part of his career at Freshworks, he led a team of over 40 marketing and creative professionals and owned revenue-focused marketing objectives for its customer service products.

Kumar has expertise in partnering with early stage startup founders. With a track record of supporting over 100 founders as an angel investor, he offers insights and actively engages with founders, even during their stealth mode, the firm said.

Having founded companies himself, Kumar brings hands-on experience and focuses on facilitating tactical advice and growth strategies. His expertise lies in user growth and product-led monetisation, particularly in the go-to-market domain. Before Matrix Partners, he played a pivotal role in Disney+ Hotstar’s ads and subscription led monetisation, it added.

Meanwhile, Sannigrahi is a former product manager turned venture capitalist. His career journey includes early stage startup experience with Chronus, contributing to a billion-dollar growth phase at Flipkart, and a brief stint in investment banking at Credit Suisse, specialising in internet and technology deals.

Matrix Partners India recently increased the size of its fourth India-focussed fund to $525 Mn from $450 Mn earlier. The announcement came a year after it was reported that the Indian arm of the US-based private equity investment firm was raising a $450 Mn fund targeted largely at Indian startups.

The PE firm counts some of the biggest Indian startups in its portfolio, including Razorpay, OfBusiness, Ola, VerSe. Matrix India has as many as 10 unicorns in its portfolio and is one of the biggest investors in the country.

Elderly-focussed lifestyle platform Genwise and wealthtech startup Stable Money are among the most recent startup investments of Matrix Partners India.

Earlier this year, early-stage venture capital firm Fireside Ventures also elevated three of its partners – Kannan Sitaram, Vinay Singh, and Dipanjan Basu – to the role of cofounders.

While the funding in the Indian startup ecosystem has dried up since the onset of the funding winter last year, investors seem to be sitting on a large amount of dry powder to invest when the situation improves. As per Inc42 data, 52 funds worth $3.8 Bn have been announced so far this year targeted for the Indian startup ecosystem.

Update: The story and the headline have been edited to add Matrix Partners India’s response to Inc42’s queries. The earlier version of the story only said Desai has been promoted.