Matrix co-founder leaves to start new firm

Navani's exit leaves Managing Director Avnish Bajaj, who founded Matrix with Navani in 2006, as the head of the firm's investment operations along with fellow managing directors Tarun Davda and Vikram Vaidyanathan. Bajaj told Livemint that the firm also plans to expand its team in Bangalore, where Vaidyanathan founded Matrix's office last year.

So far Navani has made no announcement about Epiq's fundraising plans and investment strategy. Navani began his career in Indian private equity at Indocean Ventures and later joined Apax Partners in New York. He subsequently moved to WestBridge Capital Partners, working at the firm's Silicon Valley office from 2001-2004, when he moved back to India.

The departure of Navani comes as Matrix raises $110 million for investments in early-stage tech start-ups. The latest fundraise, which came from existing investors, brings the corpus of the firm's second fund, launched in 2011, to $400 million. Matrix is planning to exit up to five investments by the end of the year.

Matrix focuses on early-stage investments in Indian consumer services businesses, deploying up to $10 million on its own and pursuing larger rounds in partnership with Matrix Partners' global fund and Matrix Capital.

It has committed several rounds to mobile point-of-service developer Mswipe - most recently a $25 million Series C round along with Falcon Edge Capital and Meru Partners - and has also invested alongside Sequoia Capital in online food ordering platform TinyOwl and with Tiger Global in online payment gateway RazorPay.

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• Topics
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