Equirus InnovateX Fund leads $1 mn seed round for data engineering startup Datazip

Equirus InnovateX Fund (EIF) has announced its latest investment in Datazip, a cutting-edge data engineering startup, leading a $1 million seed round with a substantial contribution of Rs 6 crore. This marks EIF’s second investment from their $30 million tech-focused venture capital fund, emphasizing their commitment to supporting innovative technology-driven startups.

Datazip is established by a distinguished group of industry professionals, including Sandeep Devarapalli, an alumnus of IIST and IIM Ahmedabad, who previously served as a Space Scientist at ISRO and is a seasoned entrepreneur with two successful tech ventures. Shubham Baldava, a graduate of NIT Jamshedpur, brings over six years of experience from his tenure at three unicorn companies. Additionally, Rohan Khameshra, an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, was a founding member of the data team at both Rapido and Khatabook. Together, they are dedicated to creating composable lakehouse platforms aimed at enhancing the productivity of data engineers by 10x.

At a time when data drives artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and technological advancements, Datazip is revolutionizing the way organizations manage large datasets in real-time. As the data ecosystem shifts towards open data formats that decouple storage, metadata, and compute, Datazip is at the forefront of this movement. This breakthrough approach positions businesses to unlock the full potential of their data assets today while preparing for tomorrow’s innovations. In just 12 months, Datazip has achieved product-market fit and onboarded 15 clients, with ambitious plans to grow tenfold over the next year.

The data lakehouse platform market, currently valued at $11.1 billion USD, is projected to grow at an impressive CAGR of 22.9% from 2023 to 2033, expanding from $8.9 billion to $66.6 billion USD. With the increasing demand for efficient data management solutions and the growth of AI and machine learning applications, Datazip is well-positioned to capture a significant share of this burgeoning market.

Commenting on the investment, Sunder Nookala, General Partner, Equirus InnovateX Fund (EIF), said, “We are delighted to partner with Datazip in their mission to make data engineers 10x more productive. Their deep understanding of data engineering challenges, coupled with a clear vision, is what drew us to the founders. We believe their platform will become an essential tool for any data-driven business.”

“We are excited to partner with Equirus InnovateX Fund and grateful for their belief in our vision. As more organizations embrace open data formats and technologies like Apache Iceberg, Datazip is headed to be at the forefront of this transformative wave. Our goal is to empower data engineers, enhancing their productivity, and this investment is a crucial step towards realizing that mission,” said Sandeep Devarapalli, Co-founder and CEO of Datazip, Inc.

Shubham Baldava, Co-founder and CTO of Datazip, added, “The fundraise will help us create & innovate world class data engineering and analytics products out of India.”

Rohan Khameshra, Co-founder and CPO of Datazip, concluded, “We’re grateful for Equirus InnovateX Fund’s confidence in Datazip’s vision. This partnership will accelerate our mission to provide data engineers with the tools they need to thrive in the era of open data and AI.”