Rahul Chaudhary: Treebo cofounder Rahul Chaudhary joins VC fund Matrix Partners

Rahul Chaudhary, cofounder of budget hospitality chain, Treebo Hotels, has joined venture capital fund Matrix Partners India, an early investor in companies such as ride-hailing and electric vehicle venture, Ola, digital payments provider, Razorpay, and short video player Dailyhunt, among many others.

In his new role as venture partner at Matrix India, Chaudhary will be looking at early-stage investments for the fund, focussing on seed to Series A startups.

“Let’s see what this VC thing is all about then. Excited to be joining the team at Matrix Partners. Hoping to be the kind of investor I’ve respected as a founder – honest, empathetic and all-in,” Chaudhary said on microblogging website Twitter, announcing his move.

In June, last year, Chaudhary had stepped down and assumed an advisory role at the budget hotel aggregator which he cofounded along with Sidharth Gupta and Kadam Jeet Jain in 2015. He continues to be a board member at Treebo Hotels.

Matrix Partners India is an early-backer of Treebo Hotels and has invested in the company across several rounds starting 2015. Bennett Coleman & Company Limited (BCCL), which publishes The Economic Times, is also an investor in Treebo Hotels.

Earlier in June 2021, Treebo had raised $16 million led by French hospitality major, Accor. At that time, it was focusing on its hotel management software platform, Hotel Superhero, which it had relaunched.

The investment by Accor was part of a broader partnership under which Treebo would deploy its hotel management software at various Accor hotels worldwide.

Treebo’s biggest competitor is SoftBank-backed Oyo which has plans to go public.

ET had reported on June 21, last year that Matrix Partners is expected to raise a $450 million India fund, citing regulatory filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US.

This is the venture firm’s fourth India-dedicated fund through which it will back startups in India and South Asian markets, and comes at a time when peers including Accel, Sequoia India, Elevation Capital have all announced their latest funds and started deployment, starting last year. Matrix had previously raised a $300 million fund in 2019.

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