Rainmatter Foundation

CEO Sameer Shisodia leads the foundation's grant strategy and platform building. He works with a 20-person team based in Bengaluru, with oversight from founders Nithin Kamath and Kailash Nadh and board member Seema Patil.

The foundation's $200 million commitment originates entirely from Zerodha, the Indian financial services firm founded by Nithin Kamath and Kailash Nadh. It is structured as an independent non-profit, not a for-profit investment fund.

It provides grants and philanthropic funding to non-profits, civil society organisations, research initiatives, and policy advocacy. It does not take equity stakes or seek financial returns; it explicitly frames its capital as an investment in ecological and human wellbeing.

Both share founders Nithin Kamath and Kailash Nadh and the Zerodha origin, but operate completely separately. Rainmatter Capital, founded in 2015, is a for-profit fintech fund backing Indian startups. Rainmatter Foundation is a non-profit focused solely on climate and environment.

It funds work across forests, water, soil, farm systems, ecology, energy, and transport. The foundation also supports healthcare, education, legal access, and local livelihoods where they intersect with environmental resilience. Its guiding principles include mainstreaming local solutions, fostering coalitions, and exploring unexplored approaches to climate action.

Yes. One of its stated principles is coordinated change with policy and governance — it supports alliances, participates in coalitions, and pushes for systemic changes to amplify impact. This sits alongside its direct grassroots funding.

It evaluates success through ecosystem regeneration metrics — soil health, water table levels, forest cover, biodiversity — and through the scale and durability of mainstreamed solutions. It treats climate action as an investment in future wellbeing rather than a financial instrument.