Fundraising Fox
San Francisco Bay Area · Pre-Seed–Series A · 11 people tracked
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Investment thesis
z21 Ventures positions itself as the first believer in contrarian founders, investing at the early stage in AI and deeptech companies. Its differentiator is a community of 205+ operators, investors, and advisors — many from major technology and enterprise companies — who are personally invested in the fund and actively engaged with portfolio companies from sourcing through scaling. The firm emphasizes hands-on support beyond capital, helping companies refine go-to-market strategy and accelerate growth through extensive industry connections. It closed the first tranche of a $40M Fund II with WestBridge Capital as anchor investor.
Source: firm website, verified Sep 27, 2026.
Team · 11 people
from the firm's website & public directories
Founder mafia
5 people who came through Z21 Ventures went on to found or lead other companies.
What they invest in
from 37 of 68 portfolio companiesAI & Machine Learning ×25SaaS ×12Enterprise Software ×7Healthtech ×7Deep Tech ×6Digital Health ×6Hardware ×5Cloud Computing ×4
HQs:United States×16India×6United Kingdom×1
Who they back
founder profiles across 31 portfolio companiesFounding team size:solo founder×62 founders×143 founders×74+ founders×4
Where their founders studiedfrom 27 founders with education data
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur ×8Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee ×3University of California, Berkeley ×3Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad ×2
What their founders studiedfrom 28 founders with field-of-study data
Engineering ×15Computer Science ×10Business & Management ×5Finance & Accounting ×2
Where their founders worked beforefrom 31 founders with career history
Google ×3Georgia Institute of Technology ×2Innovaccer ×2McKinsey & Company ×2Microsoft ×2Oracle ×2
Accelerator rootsportfolio companies that came through a program
4 founders hold a PhD · 4 hold an MBA (of 30 with degree data)
Investments · 68 tracked
founders shown can be your intro pathBy year:2026 · 32025 · 32024 · 12023 · 12022 · 12021 · 110 dated
FOXO Technologies is a healthcare services and technology company operating three divisions: epigenetic diagnostics and interpretation, rural hospitals, and mental and behavioral health facilities.
Digital HealthHealthtechMental HealthMinneapolis, US
Jon Sabes(Executive Officer, Director)Steve Sabes(Executive Officer)Martin Ward(Interim Chief Financial Officer)Mark White(Interim Chief Executive Officer)Brian Chen(Chief Science Officer)Tyler Danielson(Interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer)
HEN Technologies builds an integrated fire defense platform combining re-engineered suppression hardware (nozzles, monitors, pump controls), a data layer, and real-time AI incident-command software (FLUID-IQ and STAR-IQ).
AI & Machine LearningDefense TechGovTechHardwareSaaS
Sunny Sethi(Founder)inAkshay Thakor(Founder)
Co-investorsNivesha Ventures
Adaption Labs builds adaptive AI systems that continually learn and adjust to specific industries, languages, and use cases, positioning itself against large monolithic, one-size-fits-all models.
AI & Machine LearningDeep Tech
Sara Hooker(Founder)Sudip Roy(Founder)
Co-investorsAlpha Intelligence CapitalEmergence Capital PartnersFifty YearsMozilla VenturesThe E14 FundThreshold Ventures+1 more
Babblebots provides AI-powered phone interview software that automates candidate screening through conversational voice calls, eliminating manual recruiter screening tasks and enabling high-volume hiring at scale.
AI & Machine LearningHR TechSaaS
Roli Gupta(Founder)in
Basepair is a SaaS bioinformatics platform that provisions in a customer's own AWS account to store and analyze genomic and next-generation sequencing (NGS) data without moving it, offering point-and-click and API-driven workflows plus interactive visualization.
BiotechCloud ComputingData & InfrastructureNew York, US
Amit U Sinha(Founder)inAmit Sinha(Founder)
Co-investors37 AngelsCarbon SiliconDraper AssociatesEntrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator (ERA)Fresco CapitalMetaplanet
Breakout offers an AI SDR platform that identifies website visitors and buyer intent signals, engages them in real time through AI chat, and automates follow-ups, campaigns, and CRM updates.
AI & Machine LearningMarketing TechSales TechSan Jose, US
Hitesh A(Founder)Sachin Gupta(Founder)inHitesh Aggarwal(Founder)
Co-investorsRecall CapitalVillage Global
Cignara provides AI agents for voice and chat-based customer support that handle transactions, take actions, and provide real-time assistance to enterprise customers across retail, banking, telecom, healthcare, and other industries.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareSaaSSan Francisco, US
Nalin Gupta(CEO)in
Co-investorsY CombinatorEight CapitalMultifaceted CapitalOrange DAORebel Fund
Conifer designs and manufactures powertrains and motors for drones, robots, data centers, and mobility applications using proprietary axial-flux architecture that reduces material costs and increases performance.
Advanced ManufacturingDeep TechHardware
Ankit Somani(Founder)in
Co-investorsMaC Venture CapitalMFV PartnersTrue VenturesHigher Life VenturesVoyager Partners
CoverSelf offers a healthcare payment integrity platform that helps payers detect and prevent claims inaccuracies and payment leakage while reducing administrative costs.
FintechHealthtechSaaSSan Francisco, US
Rajasekhar Maddireddy(Founder)Raghavendra Pawar(Founder)in
Co-investorsFalconX VenturesSaison Capital3one4 CapitalBEENEXT
Develo builds pediatric practice management software that goes beyond a traditional EMR, handling scheduling, clinical charting, billing, and family engagement for independent pediatric practices.
AI & Machine LearningDigital HealthHealthtechMedical DevicesSaaSLos Angeles, US
Han Ke(Founder)inAaron Sin, MD(Founder)inAaron Tsz-Kit Sin(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)Aaron Sin(Founder)
BoardSheldon Lewis(Director)
Co-investorsBlueprint EquityFractal SoftwareStartXBienville Capital
devicethread provides a hospitality technology platform that unifies access, entertainment, energy, and operations management for hotels and properties.
AI & Machine LearningIoTSaaS
Sandeep Bhat(Founder)Swamy Viswanathan(Founder)
Co-investorsTop Shelf Equity Funds CCerraCap Ventures
Energy storage and battery systems company that develops hardware and software for grid-scale energy storage infrastructure in India.
CleantechEnergyHardwareIndia, IN
Pratik Somani(Founder)Rahul Lamba(Founder)Vinay Karulkar(Founder)
Co-investors1CrowdSprint VcWe Founder Circle Global Angels Fund
Explorex operates a two-sided platform connecting restaurants and diners in India through a restaurant management system and consumer app that enables table booking, menu browsing, ordering, and payment without server interaction.
ConsumerMarketplacesBengaluru, IN
Mainak Sarkar(Founder)inPritam Khan(Founder)inTaher Savliwala(Director)Explorex Founder(Founder)Manish Agarwal(Business \u0026 Strategy)Divya Pandey(HR)
Co-investorsPioneerY CombinatorHOF CapitalMyAsiaVCSeven Stars Ventures
Flashaid provides corporate group health plans, claims assistance, cashless hospitalisation guidance, and wellness benefits for companies offering healthcare coverage to employees and their families across India.
Digital HealthHealthtechInsurTechMumbai, IN
Gunjali(Founder)Gunjali Kothari(Founder)Manoj Gupta(Founder)Manoj Gupta Gunjali Kothari(Founder)
Co-investorsSOSV
Foxo offers a precision longevity program combining systems-biology diagnostics, biomarker and ageing-clock testing, AI-driven personalization, lifestyle and therapeutic interventions, and healthspan coaching.
AI & Machine LearningDigital HealthLongevity
Akash Gehani(Founder)in
Co-investorsBetter Capital
Furnishka is a Bengaluru-based furniture brand that designs and manufactures solid wood, space-saving, and customizable furniture — including sofas, beds, dining sets, wardrobes, and home décor — sold through offline stores and online across India.
Advanced ManufacturingConsumerDirect to ConsumerE-commerceBengaluru, IN
Ganesh Pawar(Founder)inMahesh Majali(Co-founder)inAayush Agarwal(Co-founder)inPrateek Sharma(Co-founder)inRahul Rathore(Co-founder)inSanat Munot(Co-founder)in
Co-investorsCapria VenturesIndia QuotientTDV PartnersSparrow Capital
GaanaAI is an AI-native creative agency that produces advertising videos and images for brands via a managed service, where clients submit a brief and assets and receive finished content.
AdTechAI & Machine LearningE-commerceMarketing Tech
Harish Doddi(Founder)in
Co-investorsUlu VenturesZelda Ventures
Gimbal Space designs and supplies attitude determination and control system (ADCS) hardware for spacecraft, including reaction wheels, star trackers, and torque rods, as well as custom integrated ADCS systems.
Deep TechHardwareSpace Tech
Dhaval Shiyani(Founder)in
Co-investorsGolden Sparrow Ventures, Llc
Gloroots operates a centralized platform that enables distributed companies to offer localized benefits packages, including health insurance, life and disability coverage, pension plans, and co-working access, compliant with labor laws across 140+ countries.
Enterprise SoftwareFuture of WorkHR TechSaaS
Abhirup Nath(Founder)inMayank Kumar Bhutoria(Founder)Yamini Jain(Founder)
Co-investorsFoster VenturesUpsparks Capital
Greenjets is a company drawing on aerospace and automotive engineering expertise to develop technology in the aviation sector.
CleantechDeep TechHardwareMobility & TransportationLondon, GB
Anmol Manohar(Founder)Guido Monterzino(Founder)in
Co-investors7percent VenturesBlossom CapitalCoalitionExcellis HoldingKern Venture GroupMD One Ventures+3 more
hosted·ai is a turnkey platform for GPU orchestration, monetization and neocloud operations, using software-defined GPU multi-tenancy, overcommit and elastic GPUaaS to raise GPU utilization and margin.
AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingData & InfrastructureSan Jose, US
Ditlev Bredahl(Founder)Narendar (Naren) S(Founder)Ditlev B.inNarendar Shankar(Founder)Julian Chesterfield(Founder)Naren Shankar(Founder)
Co-investorsCreandumGolden Sparrow Ventures, LlcPeople VenturesRepeat VC
Inito provides fertility and reproductive health services, advised by reproductive endocrinologists and infertility specialists.
FemTechHealthtechWellness & FitnessBengaluru, IN
Varun AV(Founder)inAayush Rai(Founder)inVarun Akur Venkatesan(Founder)Komal Aidasani(Vice President of Marketing)Pooja Dutta(Recruiter)Manikanta Reddy(Recruiting Manager)
Co-investorsBetter CapitalFireside Ventures Advisory LlpJude GomilaOwl CapitalY CombinatorBertelsmann India Investments
Skill development and activity discovery platform for children
Amritanshu Kumar(Founder)Kapish Saraf(Founder)
Kim provides an AI-powered customer support platform that resolves repetitive support tickets automatically while a team of trained CX professionals (Sentinels) monitors, validates, and reviews interactions.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareSaaSDover, US
Kaushik Barodiya(Founder)inPhani Yedavilli(Founder)inSachin Jaiswal(Founder)
Co-investorsCapria VenturesIndia QuotientStellaris Venture Advisors 2 LlpZ5 Capital
Lighthouz AI provides AI-powered back-office automation for freight brokers, automating freight bill audits, accounts receivable, and collections.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareLogistics & Supply ChainSaaSAtlanta, US
Srijan Kumar(CEO)inSonali Pattnaik(COO)inSonali Kumar(Founder)Srijan Kr(Recruiter)
Co-investorsY CombinatorPioneerEndiya Partners
Meomind provides personalized, evidence-based psychotherapy accessible on demand 24/7 through digital platforms.
AI & Machine LearningDigital HealthHealthtechMental Health
Sushant Gupta(Founder)inMakan Amini(Founder)
Co-investorsFusionArtis Ventures
MightyAI provides AI agents that autonomously create, launch, and optimize ChatGPT ad campaigns for DTC and retail brands by reading a store's catalog and orders to generate and test ad creative.
AdTechAI & Machine LearningMarketing Tech
Daryn Nakhuda(Founder)Dhawal Mujumdar(Founder)Matt Bencke(Founder)Matt Shobe(Founder)Patrick O'Donnell(Founder)Satish Polisetti(Founder)
Co-investorsGV (Google Ventures)Madrona Venture GroupNew Enterprise Associates (NEA)South Park Commons
Manuraj Jain(Founder)Saurabh Agarwal(Founder)Surajit Ray(Founder)
Co-investorsAstarc VenturesJuly VenturesSOSV
Myolab develops MyoSapiens, an embodied AI system designed to understand and learn from human full-body movements, behaviors, and interactions by combining embodied behavior data with environmental context and world knowledge.
AI & Machine LearningDeep TechRobotics
Vikash Kumar(Founder)Vittorio Caggiano(Founder)
Co-investorsAllianz Life VenturesF-Prime CapitalGolden Sparrow Ventures, Llc
Naïve is a platform for building and running autonomous agents that coordinate workflows, manage tasks, and control real spending through virtual cards.
AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingData & InfrastructureDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareSan Francisco, US
Sean Dorje(CEO)inDennis Zax(CTO)in
Co-investorsDG Daiwa VenturesY Combinator468 CapitalChalhoub GroupColumbia Private Trust Custodian FBO Mayank Upadhyay.DEEPCORE Inc.+8 more
Optiwise.ai offers a generative-AI platform and managed services for brands and sellers on Walmart and Amazon marketplaces, handling product listing optimization, A+/Rich Media content, sponsored ad management, and catalog analytics.
AI & Machine LearningE-commerceRetail TechNewark, US
Deepak Goyal(Founder)Rahul Shah(Founder)
Origin collaborates with People/HR teams to guide employees through personal financial matters including compensation, benefits, and equity.
AI & Machine LearningFintechHR TechPropTech
Matt Watson(Founder)inErin James CollardEugene MarinelliNima GhamsariRosco HillAshish Daga(Founder)
Co-investors500 GlobalAbstract VenturesCoatue ManagementFelicis VenturesMerus CapitalMGV.VC+12 more
Perceptyne builds semi-humanoid robots with a 7-DOF arm that combine vision, force, and tactile sensing with physical AI to automate repetitive industrial workflows such as picking, placing, bolting, inspecting, and assembly.
AI & Machine LearningDeep TechRoboticsHyderabad, IN
Jagga Raju Nadimpalli(Founder)Mrutyunjaya Sastry(Founder)Raviteja Chivukula(Founder)
Co-investorsEndiya PartnersT-HubVenture CatalystsWhiteboard CapitalYali Capital
Rapidflare provides AI agents that assist technical sales and engineering teams with product selection, technical support, and competitive analysis by reasoning across proprietary catalogs, datasheets, and internal knowledge bases.
AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureEnterprise SoftwareSaaSSales TechLos Gatos, US
Navaneethan Sundaramoorthy(Co-founder)Dr. John Williams(Founder)Vasanth Asokan(Founder)Prushothaman Palanichamy(Executive Officer, Director)Joe Tsai(Director)Prush Palanichamy(Founder)
Co-investorsStruck CapitalMucker CapitalRebright Partners
AI-powered integration agents for enterprise software
Jugal Anchalia(Founder)inAbhishek Kumar(Founder)in
Co-investors8i VenturesBetter CapitalEniac VenturesTidal VenturesAhead VCKarman Ventures
Rexera (formerly InspectHOA) uses AI agents to automate operational tasks in real estate transactions, including HOA document acquisition, data extraction, communications, payments, and quality control.
AI & Machine LearningPropTechSaaS
Marina HubenovainAnton Tonev(Founder)Atin Hindocha(Founder)Vishrut Malhotra(Founder)
Co-investorsInventus Capital PartnersMK CapitalSVQuadTunitas Ventures
Risa Labs provides automated prior authorization and revenue-cycle workflows for oncology practices, handling Part B and Part D drug authorizations, eligibility and benefit verification, claims status tracking, and denial management.
AI & Machine LearningDigital HealthHealthtech
Kshitij Jaggi(Founder)Kumar Shivang(Founder)
Co-investorsBetter CapitalCencora VenturesOncology VenturesOptum VenturesAlpha PartnersCerity Partners Ventures+1 more
TrueFoundry provides a unified platform for deploying, governing, scaling, and tracing agentic AI and LLM workloads, including an AI gateway, model hosting, fine-tuning, and observability.
AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingDeveloper ToolsSan Francisco, US
Nikunj Bajaj(Founder)inAbhishek Choudhary(Founder)inAnuraag Gutgutia(Founder)
Co-investorsEniac VenturesIntel CapitalMyAsiaVCPeak XV PartnersSurgeTrajectory Ventures+3 more
vHub.ai is an AI-based influencer marketing intelligence platform that helps brands and marketing teams discover creators, analyze audience demographics and authenticity, study content, and track campaign performance.
AI & Machine LearningCreator EconomyMarketing Tech
Rajesh Jagasia(Founder)Sachin Modi(Founder)
Co-investorsStartup India Seed Fund Scheme
Zime provides a GTM Context Model exposed through MCP that allows multiple in-house AI agents (forecasting, RFP, deal desk, content) to access unified buyer language, deal context, and sales strategy.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareSaaSSales Tech
Sanchit Garg(Founder)Vishnu Khandelwal(Founder)
Co-investorsAUM Venturespeercheque
Other
Tracked investments with no reachable website or further public details — typically companies that wound down, renamed, or were absorbed.
Gimbal SpaceHarness InsuranceKim CCOptiwisePerceptyne RobotsSupamillThe Energy Company
Exits · 1
1 IPOsFoxo TechnologiesOTC: FOXO
Portfolio news
latest coverage across their companies
Naïve · thesaasnews.com · Aug 7, 2026
Greenjets · eu-startups.com · Jul 17, 2026
Kim · finance.yahoo.com · Jun 30, 2026
Cignara · ycombinator.com · May 28, 2026
Risa Labs · biospace.com · Jan 14, 2026
Lighthouz AI · ycombinator.com · Dec 22, 2025
Hen Technologies · finsmes.com · Dec 17, 2025
Frequently asked questions
- How many investments has Z21 Ventures made?
- Z21 Ventures has 68 tracked investments, 1 of which have exited, including 6 dated in the last 24 months.
- What stage does Z21 Ventures invest at?
- Z21 Ventures invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A stages.
- What is Z21 Ventures's typical check size?
- Z21 Ventures typically writes checks of $500K – $1M.
- What sectors does Z21 Ventures focus on?
- Z21 Ventures focuses on AI & Machine Learning, Consumer, Data & Infrastructure, Deep Tech, Enterprise Software, Healthtech, SaaS.
- Where is Z21 Ventures located?
- Z21 Ventures is headquartered in San Francisco Bay Area, US.
- Does Z21 Ventures lead rounds?
- Z21 Ventures typically participates in rounds rather than leading them.
- Who does Z21 Ventures co-invest with?
- Z21 Ventures most often shares deals with Y Combinator, Better Capital, Eniac Ventures, among 69 tracked co-investors.
Media · Podcasts & interviews
featuring the teamJyotika Gupta, z21 Ventures shares her insights as an investor at Funding Fridays.
TiE Silicon Valley · Jyotika Gupta
Images
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