Over 30 Indian startups welcome new CEOs amid strategic shifts this year

This year, Indian startups saw a wave of leadership transformations, including several high-profile CEO appointments. Changes in management usually aim at bringing in fresh momentum, tweaks in strategy, and of course, maintain or strive to achieve the targeted growth.

According to data compiled by TheKredible, over 30 Indian startups appointed or elevated new chief executive officers (CEOs) within the first 10 months of 2024. Notable companies on this list included Cleartrip, Zoomcar, Acko Life, DealShare, MyGate, Inshorts, Cult.fit, Third Wave Coffee, Freshworks, PhonePe International Business, Ola Financial Services, BharatPe, iD Fresh, and Setu, among others. 

A few of these startups have transitioned into public companies, while several others are planning to get listed on the stock exchanges.

[Elevated CEOs of 2024]

Out of these, 12 startups promoted existing executives or co-founders to the CEO position, while more than 20 brought in new leadership from other startups or organizations. During the first half of 2024, six startups—Inshorts, DealShare, Cult.fit, BharatPe, MyGate, and Freshworks—appointed internal candidates to the CEO role. In the latter half, companies such as Zoomcar, Cashaa, Grip, Acko’s life insurance division (Acko Life), and People Matter promoted their existing executives to the top position.

Notably, NASDAQ-listed Zoomcar had terminated its long-time CEO Greg Moran. The board appointed Hiroshi Nishijima, the company’s chief operating officer, as the interim CEO.

Check TheKredible to see the complete list.

[New CEOs appointed in 2024]

As reported in our May edition, seven startups appointed new CEOs in the first four months of 2024. This trend has continued, with 22 startups now hiring chief executives from other or group organizations. Among the recent appointments, iD Fresh has brought on former Marico MD Rajat Diwaker as its new CEO. Ankush Aggarwal, previously the CBO at Ola Electric, has transitioned to lead Ola Financial Services. Similarly, Titan Eye Care's CEO Saumen Bhaumik has been appointed as CaratLane’s new Managing Director and CEO. Bhaumik took over from Avnish Anand who quit the jewelry company in August this year. Anuj Rathi, formerly Chief Product and Marketing Officer at Jupiter, now heads Flipkart-owned Cleartrip, while Flipkart’s B2C e-commerce platform Shopsy named Pratyusha Aggarwal as its new CEO. Meanwhile, MyGate founder and chairman Vijay Arisetty has joined Aurm as the CEO of the asset protection firm.

Additionally, Cloudphysician, Veefin, Zalon, Medikabazaar, and Swiggy Instamart have appointed new chief executives in the second half of 2024. The full list can be found here.

Looking ahead, more new CEO appointments are anticipated. For instance, Ola Cabs, now rebranded as Ola Consumer, is currently led by the company's founder, Bhavish Aggarwal, following the departure of Hemant Bakshi. Similarly, Byju’s India is being run by its founder, Byju Raveendran, after Arjun Mohan left the company in April this year. Meanwhile, The Good Glamm Group-owned Sirona, PhonePe-owned Indus App Store, and upGrad-owned KnowledgeHut have yet to officially announce their new chief executives.

CEO appointments usually assume significance after the startup transitions to a more formal growth phase, involving much more considered decision-making. Consensus building over individual calls, so to say. Which is why we see many firms headed for IPOs, or even post-IPO, looking at a change. Many founders also seek to move back to a more strategic role away from the operational stress of running organizations after a decade or so, leading to new CEOs. 

But the biggest challenge in bringing in a CEO at startups remains the matter of a strong culture fit versus the need to change course and processes, which explains the tough choice between promoting internal candidates or bringing in outsiders. The role and say of investors matter a lot here, as they can plumb for outsiders with much less agonizing as compared to a founder/s. With a large cohort of fairly mature startups where founders have been in the saddle for almost a decade or more, expect the CEO inductions to continue apace.