Zaza Pachulia
About Zaza Pachulia
Zaza Pachulia is a Georgian former NBA player who won two NBA championships with the Golden State Warriors. A speaker bureau profile says he retired from professional play in 2019. It lists his business interests as two hotels in Tbilisi, a fitness franchise, a partnership with the Crosty athletic footwear brand, and the Zaza Pachulia Basketball Academy in Georgia.
Crunchbase lists him as an individual angel based in San Francisco, and lists his role at the Golden State Warriors as liaison for business and basketball. UC Berkeley's Sutardja Center has listed him as an angel investor at GSW Ventures and as a speaker, mentor and judge at its Berkeley Method of Entrepreneurship bootcamp.
Tracxn dates his startup investing to 2021 with Shoot 360, a basketball training technology company. Its 2021 Series B also included Trae Young and Sue Bird. Tracxn also shows him in the 2022 Kabata seed round and the 2024 Tennr Series A, and in the 2025 KLIPY seed round. Crunchbase lists 4 personal investments, with KLIPY as the latest.
The speaker bureau profile also mentions IRL Studios' Gym Class VR basketball game. His LinkedIn activity refers to Tandem and Judgment Labs as companies he has invested in.
KLIPY is a GIF, clip and sticker platform that runs an ad-based monetization API. It announced a $1.2M seed round in April 2025, backed by Sturgeon Capital, Pachulia, Gfycat co-founder Dan McEleney and others. Dealroom and CB Insights list a later $3.8M seed round in June 2026 with Pachulia among the investors. That is the AI round on the Lounge deals desk.
On LinkedIn he shared news that Core, a personal AI computer, raised $11M from Andreessen Horowitz, and described himself as an investor. His X account has also posted about Judgment Labs and the AI infrastructure startup HydraDB.
Public records show early-stage deals, mainly seed, with Crunchbase listing his investor stage as early stage venture and seed. The sectors in his history are sports tech, connected fitness, consumer, healthcare automation, and more recently AI products and infrastructure. Tracxn lists his portfolio companies as US-based. He has not published a check size or a thesis, so none is given here.
- KLIPY: GIF, clip and sticker platform with a monetization API. He appears in the April 2025 seed round and the June 2026 seed round.
- Core: personal AI computer that runs a local agent. He describes himself as an investor, and the company raised $11M from Andreessen Horowitz.
- Judgment Labs: he says he is an investor, per his LinkedIn.
- Tandem: he says he is an investor, per his LinkedIn.
- Tennr: healthcare automation company. He is listed in its 2024 Series A.
- Kabata: AI-powered connected fitness dumbbells. He is listed in its 2022 seed round.
- Shoot 360: basketball training technology. He is listed in its 2021 Series B.
- crunchbase.com/person/zaza-pachulia
- tracxn.com/d/people/zaza-pachulia/__yZa-KA1kMHGkUNroXyiyN1H4_6aKUofru5
- en.ain.ua/2025/04/03/klipy-raises-12m-in-seed-funding
- app.dealroom.co/companies/kikliko
- cbinsights.com/investor/intuition
- aurumbureau.com/speaker/zaza-pachulia
- scet.berkeley.edu/students/courses/berkeley-method-of-entrepreneurship
- x.com/zaza27
Investing activity
Zaza Pachulia appears in 1 AI deal tracked by the Lounge deals desk. The rounds are mostly Seed, with a median round size of $4M. The most recent is KLIPY (Seed, $3.8M, Jun 2026).
Zaza Pachulia most often invests alongside Google AI Futures Fund, Sturgeon Capital, Red Swan Ventures and Intuition Ventures, and the companies they back on Lounge are mostly in AI.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Zaza Pachulia
Does Zaza Pachulia invest in AI startups?
Yes. He is listed in KLIPY's seed rounds, the latest being $3.8M in June 2026. He also describes himself as an investor in the personal AI computer Core.
What check size does Zaza Pachulia write?
He has not published a check size, and the sources found do not list his individual amounts.
What stage does Zaza Pachulia invest at?
Crunchbase lists early stage venture and seed. His known deals are mostly seed rounds, plus a Series A (Tennr) and a Series B (Shoot 360).
Is Zaza Pachulia the NBA player?
Yes. The angel investor is the two-time NBA champion with the Golden State Warriors, and the Berkeley Sutardja Center lists him as an angel investor and 2x NBA champion.
How can founders contact Zaza Pachulia?
He has public profiles on X at @zaza27 and on LinkedIn. No personal investing website or pitch process was found.
Which companies has Zaza Pachulia backed?
Public sources list KLIPY, Tennr, Kabata, Shoot 360 and Core, and he says on LinkedIn that he is an investor in Tandem and Judgment Labs.
Is Zaza Pachulia an angel investor?
Yes. Zaza Pachulia invests personally as an angel.
What AI companies has Zaza Pachulia invested in?
Zaza Pachulia's AI investments include KLIPY. The 1 round on Lounge are listed on this page with amounts, dates and co-investors.
Who does Zaza Pachulia co-invest with?
Zaza Pachulia's most frequent co-investors on Lounge are Google AI Futures Fund (1 deal), Sturgeon Capital (1 deal), Red Swan Ventures (1 deal), Intuition Ventures (1 deal) and SilverCircle (1 deal).
How can founders reach Zaza Pachulia?
Founders on Lounge can see Zaza Pachulia's contact details in AI Investor Contacts (paid plans), check for a warm introduction through members who worked with them under Warm Paths, and add Zaza Pachulia to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.