Z47 (fka Matrix Partners India)

Uncovering the opportunities for Startups in India's A&D sector. Z47 joined forces with MountTech Growth Fund - Kavachh and SIA-India to host “Digitizing Make In India: The Aerospace & Defence Edition”. Thanks to the 100+ leaders from the armed forces, industry, government organizations, and emerging startups in A&D for joining us in Delhi. Key takeaways from the evening: 🇮🇳 Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria (Retd) on India’s Readiness for the A&D Industry: we're 80% ready to compete with foreign OEMs. Next: move beyond "Make in India" and "Build to Print," focus on indigenous design and development. 🤝 Foreign OEMs Collabs Ashish Saraf, Thales India: Global OEMs have indigenized large portions of sales to India. The MAKE1 & MAKE2 initiatives were a turning point, mandating foreign OEMs to partner with Indian companies and ensuring technology transfer. Startups with deep expertise in a single area will find global partnerships more easily. ⚙️ Challenges in Indigenization Lt Gen PJS Pannu (Retd): there's a need for self-reliance, while technology imports are still necessary in certain areas. Govt. policies, tech transfer, and R&D will ensure we deliver on customer requirements & compete globally with the best. 🌱 Government Support for Startups Defence corridors in TN & UP + initiatives like iDEX, are creating opportunities for startups. However, contracts have gone to public sector undertakings (PSUs). India must focus on joint IP development with foreign OEMs to accelerate innovation. ⏳ Aerospace as a Long-Term Business Ashish Saraf: Aerospace requires patience and a focus on the lower tiers of the supply chain, where better margins can be found. Startups should invest in process certification and vertical integration to succeed. AVM Datta succinctly captured the three key ingredients for success in this sector: patience, domain knowledge, and capital. ⚔️ Modern Warfare Demands PPP Lt Gen PJS Pannu (Retd) advised startups to understand the shift from analog to digital and autonomous warfare. Public-private collaboration is essential to scale innovative defense solutions. ⏩ Opportunities for Startups 💡 AI in defense & cybersecurity for the creation of more autonomous, unmanned platforms 💡 Commercial aerospace: solving supply chain challenges for aerospace component manufacturing & partnering foreign OEMs to commercially manufacture key technologies 💡 Space-tech: data insights and developing systems and components for defense use cases are current needs The Aerospace & Defense sector presents a long-term opportunity, fueled by India's steadfast commitment to self-reliance & innovation. It is essential to strategically leverage capital, embrace the patience required to navigate long development cycles, and cultivate the perseverance needed to overcome inevitable challenges. We'd love to connect if you're building in A&D. Sudipto Anurag Yashasvi Nivedith #FoundersFirst #AerospaceAndDefense #MakeInIndia

🚀 Looking forward to hosting “Digitizing Make In India: The Aerospace & Defence Edition” in collaboration with MountTech Growth Fund - Kavachh and SIA-India . We are privileged to host Ashish Saraf (CEO, Thales India), Air Chief Marshal (Retd.) Rakesh Kumar Singh bhadauria, Lt Gen PJS Pannu (Retd.), Senior Advisor and Chair of the Defence Committee at SIA-India, and Sudipto Sannigrahi as our panelists. The session will be moderated by Anurag Srivastava. The Founder, Chairman of MountTech Growth Fund - Kavachh, and Former Defence Secretary of India, Dr. Ajay Kumar highlights the importance of specialized knowledge in identifying potential unicorns in the defence and space sectors, crucial for India's vision of a vibrant tech ecosystem by 2047 in this video. RSVP: https://lu.ma/w9hs6i3q 📅 Date: Wednesday, 23rd October 2024 ⏰ Time: 6:30 PM onwards 📍 Location: New Delhi Z47: Avnish Bajaj | Nivedith Keswani | Yashasvi Madhogaria Kavachh: Raj Sethia | Anagh Singh SIA: Anil Prakash | Rajeev Gambhir | Anubhav Prakash #Aerospace #Defence #MakeInIndia #Innovation #Leadership

📢 Excited to double down on our investment in Neysa. Since our seed funding, Sharad Sanghi, #AnindyaDas, and the team have made remarkable progress, bringing AI-native infrastructure to enterprises across industries. Neysa, an AI cloud platform provider, is empowering businesses with its flagship platform, Velocis, offering on-demand access to high-performance computing.    The company has setup one of the most reliable AI infrastructure platforms in India, with multiple enterprise customers leveraging it to run their AI workloads.    With this Series A funding, Neysa will scale its infrastructure, expand R&D, and continue democratizing access to AI-native solutions, breaking down barriers to adoption and driving innovation across sectors.    We’re proud to be part of this journey, supporting their vision of making AI accessible to businesses and driving real impact on a global scale. 🔗 Link to our announcement is in the comment section.   Avnish Bajaj | Pranay Desai | Ashwin Kannan Pandian | Madhav Chadha #FoundersFirst #Z47SaaS #CloudTech

🚀 Join us for "Digitizing Make In India: The Aerospace & Defence Edition" in collaboration with MountTech Growth Fund - Kavachh and SIA-India ! Explore critical topics, including industry growth, government support, global competitiveness, and opportunities for startups in India’s aerospace and defence sectors, featuring some of the sector's key leaders. Our panelists include Ashish Saraf (CEO, Thales India), Air Chief Marshal (Retd.) Rakesh Kumar Singh bhadauria, Lt Gen PJS Pannu (Retd.), Senior Advisor and Chair of the Defence Committee at SIA-India, and Sudipto Sannigrahi. The session will be moderated by Anurag Srivastava. 📅 Date: Wednesday, 23rd October 2024 ⏰ Time: 6:30 PM onwards 📍 Location: New Delhi 👉 RSVP here: https://lu.ma/w9hs6i3q Z47: Avnish Bajaj | Nivedith Keswani | Yashasvi Madhogaria Kavachh: Dr. Ajay Kumar | Raj Sethia | Anagh Singh SIA: Anil Prakash | Rajeev Gambhir | Anubhav Prakash #Aerospace #Defence #MakeInIndia #Innovation #Leadership

This episode was a fun one where I picked Pranay's brain about what we've been seeing in the world of #EnterpriseAI. We explored some of the trends we've observed as investors and answered questions founders often bring our way. Here’s a quick snapshot: 1️⃣ How are CIOs approaching AI adoption? We talk about how security and compliance concerns are shaping their decisions and the rise of “shadow AI” 2️⃣ What makes a successful AI product? The magic behind products that seamlessly integrate with workflows and how they iterate rapidly to find PMF 3️⃣ Build vs. Buy in AI: When is vertical integration worth it and how will this trend in the future? 4️⃣ Evolving business models: We explored why traditional SaaS models need rethinking and the potential of different pricing models in the AI space 5️⃣ Choosing the right markets: We broke down how to identify high-potential opportunities in AI, from automating existing tasks to unlocking entirely new capabilities. We've tried to pack this episode with learnings, so if you’re building, buying, or investing in AI -> give it a watch and let us know your thoughts. Link in the comments 👇 Madhav | Pranay | Vikram | Z47 (fka Matrix Partners India)

"𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘢 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 / 𝘋𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴" - was the assumption. We've historically been relegated to a 'MAU/ DAU farm', fuelling the race for 'Ad dollars' - which hit an ARPU ceiling. In the meantime, the Indian consumer was busy proving the pundits wrong. Companies like Zupee, Dream11, Astrotalk, STAGE, FRND and Seekho are unlocking spends and profit pools previously thought 'improbable' if not 'impossible'. This is great news for the App ecosystem. Capturing 5 reflections below. 𝟭. 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗲 - Find your niche and focus on their 10X. Wallets are opened for 'relevance' and not 'scale/breadth'. 𝟮. 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 - Too many founders delay charging the users. If your product is relevant, there is a consumer surplus you can unlock. 𝟯. 𝗧𝗔𝗠 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 - Consider VC capital if your TAM justifies it. In every other case, flywheel through profits (𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴!) 𝟰. 𝗠𝗼𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 - 'Supply-edge' seems to be an important moat in some of these models. Are there others? 𝟱. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 > 𝗗𝗔𝗨 - As in all 'consumer surplus' businesses, whales can make or break your PnL. They are not the 'icing', they are the 'cake'. What else am I missing? Link to full podcast in the comments section. Aakash Kumar Vivek Ramachandran Rohan Parikh Z47 (fka Matrix Partners India)

Hello Bangalore 👋 After a ~2 month hiatus from Bangalore — we’re back for the DeVC DugOut — and in a BIG way! We’ve partnered with Grayscale Ventures who are hosting the Magicball AI Week in Bangalore. We will be hosting the Friday closing panel with a terrific line-up of speakers: (1) Paras Chopra -- Founder, Turing’s Dream and Wingify (2) Soumyadeep Mukherjee -- Co-Founder & Engineer @ Dashtoon (3) Aakash Kumar – Managing Director, DeVC All 3 of the panelists are deeply embedded in the world of AI — as builders, investors & operators. They will speak about the emerging frontiers of AI (especially how Indian startups can capitalize on the AI application boom) Post the panel discussion, we will also host a networking session over dinner & drinks for founders, operators & builders to get to know each other better Note: This event is heavily oversubscribed (we have ~100 seats available with ~300 registrations) and will be by invite only. Logistics: 📅Date: 4th October (this Friday) 📍Location: DeVC BLR Office ⏰ Time: 6:00 PM onwards ➡ RSVP on Luma: https://lu.ma/r5vltdx3 Looking forward to seeing you there 🙏 #startups #india #ai

Last week, we hosted the Bangalore edition of Capital & Cocktails, where over 50 remarkable leaders in strategy and finance came together for an evening dedicated to exploring how they can unlock opportunities in the Bharat Techade.   Moderated by Reneta Kripalani and hosted by Tanya Dutta, we were privileged to have Romita Mazumdar and Priya Mohan on our panel. We are grateful for their invaluable insights, which inspired the audience to engage in deeper reflection, embrace diverse perspectives, and consider their individual journeys.   At Z47, Capital & Cocktails focuses on creating a platform for women leaders to engage in meaningful dialogue, addressing the challenges and opportunities that shape strategy and finance in this dynamic era. We aim to foster important conversations and create a space where leaders can connect, collaborate, and grow together.   As we look forward to the Mumbai chapter, we are excited to build on this momentum.   If you are working in or building in this space, we would love to have you join our community online. Drop our team a line. Debleena Das | Rupali Sharma | Divyanshi Chowdhary #FoundersFirst #CapitalAndCocktails #WomenInLeadership

How do you monetise your app business from 600 million connected smartphone users in India? This is the only question founders in India’s App Economy 3.0 need to ask themselves. Vivek Ramachandran, Chandrasekhar Venugopal (CV) and Aakash Kumar  from Z47’s consumer team talk about the shifts in India’s app economy over the years and how engagement, retention and monetisation became the key pillars for app-based businesses. Link to the episode is in the comment section. #FoundersFirst #Entrepreneurship #DigitalIndia #Apps #AppEconomy #Z47Podcast

India remains a leader in the global Fintech sector, but international market conditions are impacting growth. Despite a 33% YoY decline in equity funding, India's Fintech revenue has surged by 56%. For an in-depth analysis of India’s potential in the Fintech sector, read the State of the Fintech Union 2024 report, published by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Z47: http://rb.gy/kuj76b Avnish Bajaj | Vikram Vaidyanathan | Rajat Agarwal | Anand Khetan | Anish Patil | Taha Tinwala | Nipun Singhal #FoundersFirst #Z47Fintech #SOFTU2024