z21 Marks First Close Of Fund II At $20 Mn To Back Early-Stage AI, SaaS Startups

Early-stage venture capital (VC) firm z21 Ventures has marked the first close of its $40 Mn Fund II at $20 Mn (INR 167 Cr). The investment firm said that it secured the capital from its anchor investor WestBridge Capital. 

The VC firm said that it will also raise part of its capital from “leading operators and experts who will mentor and support founders”. 

In a statement, z21 said it is eyeing a corpus of $40 Mn for the fund and will look to back pre-seed and seed startups with “strong teams, innovative technologies and large market opportunities”. 

The fund will primarily be focussed on sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI), enterprise tech and healthcare. 

“We are thrilled to announce the first close of our fund II 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,” said z21 ventures’ cofounder and managing partner Raj Singh. 

In a statement, the firm also said that it fully deployed its maiden $5 Mn Fund I in June 2024, adding that it backed 26 startups via the fund. The US-based fund has backed early-stage startups including vHub.ai, Launcheazy, Gaana AI.

Founded in 2022 by Innovaccer cofounder Abhinav Shashank, ex-Glassdoor executive Jyotika Gupta, cofounder of LetsTransport Sudarshan Ravi Jha and International Battery Company’s cofounder Raj Singh, z21 Ventures is a VC firm that backs early-stage tech startups across SaaS, AI and other domains. 

It is a collective of Indian-origin technology executives in the US, who act as limited partners (LPs) or sponsors of the fund. The investment firm backs startups helmed by Indian as well as Indian-origin cofounders in the US. 

The development comes at a time when early-stage investments have lately picked up pace in India. As per Inc42 data, seed-stage funding zoomed 23% to $589 Mn in H1 2024 from $479 Mn in the year-ago period. 

Meanwhile, funding trends are expected to further pick up at a rapid pace moving forward. About 93% of over 50 startup investors surveyed by Inc42 see 2024 as a turnaround year for Indian startups.

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