Tarun Davda

India's emerging tech revolution encouraged me to step into the role of a builder, first at BigRock, which went on to become India's largest domain registrar and later with StepOut, which at its time, was India's largest dating site.

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When I was raising my Series B at StepOut, I was fortunate to meet the  Matrix India team who offered to lead our round. The startup didn't pan out as I had hoped and we ended up selling it to Match.com. But Avnish, who I had gotten to know through the fundraise process, was very gracious and made me an incredibly compelling offer: to join the team and explore becoming a VC if I enjoyed being on the other side OR to identify opportunities and possibly build another company that Matrix could back. At the time, not too many VCs in India had operators on their investment teams, so it was kind of an experiment.

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I got really lucky and my first investment in Ola Consumer was the turning point. Working with an exceptional founder like Bhavish was proof of the impact that venture capital could make possible. And what began as an experiment became the convergence of my experience and aspirations that I'd been seeking. Partnering with visionary founders while leveraging my operational experience - it's where I found my calling.

When I was pitching StepOut, I met nearly every VC in India. What struck me about Z47 was how they approached founder conversations. While other VCs asked generic questions based on international analogies, Z47 demonstrated a deep understanding of the local context through specific, nuanced questions about our business. I really felt they got us.

Their approach was refreshingly different - they came down to my small office in Mumbai’s suburbs, spending hours understanding what we were building. Most other senior VCs back then expected founders to come to them, but Z47 showed up at our doorstep.

What's common across all my investments—whether it's Ola in mobility, Stanza Living in consumer services, CaptainFresh in exports, Zupee in gaming, or MoEngage in software—is the kind of founder I like to work with. 

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All of these are all extremely talented, ambitious, and hungry people who have a very nuanced understanding of their domain. When I see that, I am less fussy about the sector because, at the core, I am backing the founder. My job is to spot a great founder and then back them through all the inevitable ups and downs that are part of every startup's journey.

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When evaluating opportunities, if we have to choose between an exceptional founder who sees unique potential in an unproven market versus a strong team going after a more established opportunity, we've consistently backed the former. Some of our most successful investments have come from backing entrepreneurs who helped us see markets differently than our initial thesis suggested.

We're at a defining moment when India's brightest minds are building for India, the world's largest market that's coming into its own.

These founders combine the resilience they've developed over the last decade with unprecedented market opportunity - it's a powerful combination I haven't seen before.

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What makes this especially exciting is the scale of ambition. Today's entrepreneurs aren't just building companies; they're reshaping entire industries. 

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Take Ola for example - Bhavish didn't follow the global playbook by simply aggregating existing cabs, he needed to create the entire supply and build out the network. We see this across so many of our startups - they are leap-frogging one generation of companies and are building digital-first. This pattern of reimagining and rebuilding industries from the ground up is uniquely Indian.

We have the privilege of partnering with founders who are building India's next generation of companies in the digital realm. Working alongside these entrepreneurs as they write this new chapter of India's growth story - that's what gets me excited every single day.

India's startup ecosystem is at a transformative moment. The change I witnessed in the US during the iPhone launch and Amazon's rise is now playing out here, but with a uniquely Indian flavour.

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Our markets have matured significantly, creating opportunities we could only dream of a decade ago. The entrepreneurs building for these markets are different too - they bring battle-hardened experience from the last decade, combining deep market understanding with operational sophistication. These aren't just first-time founders learning on the job; they're experienced operators who know how to build and scale companies.

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What makes this moment special is how all pieces of the puzzle are coming together. We have the market depth to build large, sustainable businesses. We have entrepreneurs with the right experience and ambition. And we have the ecosystem - from capital access to regulations - supporting this growth.

Initially, I focused entirely on investments - sourcing opportunities, working with founders, and helping portfolio companies scale. Coming from an entrepreneurial background, I was one of the few operators on the team at that time and enjoyed learning the ropes on the other side.

Today, my role spans three key areas: First, I continue to focus on consumer tech investing. 

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Second, I'm actively involved in firm and team building, ensuring we bring in people who combine operational experience with strong cultural alignment. 

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Third, I spend significant time engaging with our LPs, both overseas and domestic. This expansion into LP relations has been particularly exciting as India becomes an increasingly attractive destination for global capital.

The 'Something Ventured' documentary shows how a few fearless individuals, the earliest VCs, built an industry that would go on to finance nearly all of the major technology advancements of the past 50 years. For deeper insights, dive into 'Good to Great', a book by Jim Collins and 'Outliers' by Malcolm Gladwell.