Equirus InnovateX Fund leads $1 million seed round in 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 funding round with a substantial contribution of Rs 6 crore. 

This marks EIF’s second investment from their $30 million tech-focused venture capital fund.

Who are the founders?

Datazip is co-founded by a stellar team of industry experts, including Sandeep Devarapalli is an IIST and IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, and former Space Scientist at ISRO, who is a seasoned 2x tech founder; Shubham Baldava, an NIT Jamshedpur alumnus with over 6 years of experience working with three unicorns; and Rohan Khameshra, an IIT Kharagpur graduate and former founding data team member at Rapido and Khatabook.

Together, the founders are on a mission to build composable lakehouse platforms that increase data engineers’ productivity by 10x.

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

What does Datazip do?

Datazip is a data engineering startup building a composable lakehouse platform that makes data engineers 10x more productive.

The startup is on a mission to empower data engineers to unlock the full potential of their data assets. Its suite of tools addresses the evolving needs of the data ecosystem, enabling companies to optimize their data workflows, gain real-time insights, and stay ahead of the competition.

In just 12 months, Datazip has achieved product-market fit and onboarded 15 clients. It has plans to grow tenfold over the next year.

Data Lakehouse platform market growth

The data lakehouse platform market, which is currently valued at $11.1 billion, is projected to grow at an impressive CAGR of 22.9% from 2023 to 2033, expanding from $8.9 billion to $66.6 billion.

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.

Leadership comments

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.

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”.