Z47 Looks To Offload Stake In Four Indian Unicorns

Venture capital firm Z47, formerly Matrix Partners India, is reportedly looking to offload stakes in companies such as Ola, OfBusiness, Razorpay, and DailyHunt, together worth between $150 Mn and $180 Mn. 

An ET report claimed Z47 has held talks with other funds for a multi-company transaction, as demand for secondaries heats up in the Indian market. 

As Inc42 reported a few weeks ago, there has been a wave of secondary deals in the first half of the year, where more than a dozen such deals were recorded, but many came at a discount. Early investors in the likes of Capillary, ixigo, Urban Company, Porter, and Pocket FM, among other startups, have entered into secondary deals to get exits from these startups. 

Besides this, prominent VC firms told Inc42 that the entry of new secondary funds has given a lot of comfort to LPs that have been stung by the long-horizon primary investment route at the early stage. This has also resulted in many early-stage VCs finding exits in portfolio companies.

Incidentally, Matrix Partners India split from its US partnership and rebranded as Z47 earlier this year, but has been an active investor in India since 2006. It currently manages assets worth over $1.5 Bn across more than 100 startups, including notable names such as A23, Razorpay, Ola, Ola Krutrim, DailyHunt, Country Delight, among others. 

Last year, Matrix announced the final close of its fourth fund with a size of $525 Mn. Since then, it has been actively deploying capital across various homegrown startups, backing companies such as B2B home decor brand Trampoline, GenAI startup Grey Labs AI, and D2C brand Foxtale in recent months.

Among its largest exits in recent years was Five Star Finance where Z47 saw a $300 Mn exit, after the company went public in November 2022. 

In addition, the fund has sold partial stakes in OfBusiness, Dailyhunt, and Bhavish Aggarwal-led mobility startup Ola.

Among these, OfBusiness is said to be preparing for an IPO and has kicked off discussions with investment bankers as it aims for an initial public offering by August next year.

For Matrix and Z47, the Ola Electric bet paid off handsomely during the company’s IPO. The firm held 12.66 Cr shares in the company at an weighted average price of INR 8.22 per equity share, and sold 37.27 Lakh shares worth around INR 28.33 Cr. 

This gave the firm a 9.2X return on its investment in Ola Electric. Z47 continues to hold a stake in Ola Electric and has also invested in Ola Krutrim as part of its unicorn round. 

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