Startup leadership shake-up in H1: 26 new CEOs, 10 co-founders elevated, 10 step down

Leadership churn across Indian startups has picked up pace in 2025, with the first six months alone witnessing over 40 top-level transitions. From new CEO appointments to co-founders stepping down or being elevated, the trend has already outpaced the total seen in all of 2024. The shake-up spans both growth-stage ventures and listed entities, signalling a broader shift in how startups are reshaping their leadership playbooks.

According to data compiled by TheKredible, Indian startups have appointed 26 new CEOs, elevated 10 co-founders, and seen the exit of 10 others from their roles. In 2024, there were a total of 46 leadership changes, including 27 CEO appointments, 3 co-founder elevations, and 16 resignations.

Startups such as Navi Technologies, Angel One, Snapdeal, Livspace, Mobikwik, Dunzo, PharmEasy, Leap, and MyGate were among those that reshuffled their top brass this year. The list also includes three startups that recently went public or are part of large groups, such as EaseMyTrip, Haptik, Paytm Payments Bank, Mobikwik and PaisaBazaar.

CEOs appointed in H1 2025

Among these, 14 startups appointed new CEOs from other startups in the first half of 2025. Stockbroking firm Angel One named Ambarish Kenghe as Group CEO in January; he previously served as Vice President and General Manager at Google Pay APAC. B2B e-commerce unicorn Zetwerk appointed Vadim Yakubov as CEO of its US subsidiary, Unimact. Meanwhile, Snapdeal brought in Achint Setia as CEO, and co-working space provider Table Space announced Karan Chopra and Kunal Mehra as Co-CEOs.

Meanwhile, 9 startups promoted existing executives or co-founders to CEO roles. Navi’s early team members Rajiv Naresh and Abhishek Dwivedi became CEOs of Navi Technologies and Navi Finserv, respectively. Home decor company Livspace elevated its co-founder and COO Ramakant Sharma to the role of CEO after former CEO Anuj Srivastava has transitioned to the role of chairman of the board. CARS24, EaseMyTrip, Paisabazaar, OYO, Bolt.Earth and Polygon also promoted their existing executives to the top position.

Elevated co-founders in H1 2025

Around eight startups have promoted key executives to the position of co-founder in recognition of their pivotal contributions to the company’s growth. Deep-tech startup Enlog elevated its CTO Ayush Gupta to co-founder, while B2B marketplace ProcMart promoted its CFO and CSO Sachin Jain to the same role. Edtech startup Masai named three internal leaders Keshav Misra, Aman Vats and Ankit Agarwal as co-founders. Increff, Presentations.ai, Leap, GyanDhan and MyGate also elevated senior executives to co-founder positions for playing a crucial role in shaping the companies’ journeys.

Co-founders who stepped down

Apart from new appointments and elevations, some startups also witnessed their co-founders exiting the firm during the first six months of 2025. Some notable names include, BluSmart founders Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi have exited the company after a fraud case surfaced against them in their promoter firm, Gensol Engineering. Their departure comes amid growing scrutiny over the allegations.

Online pharmacy Pharmeasy’s three co-founders, Dharmil Sheth, Dhaval Shah and Hardik Dedhia, have stepped back from the Bengaluru-based firm. Romil Jain, co-founder and former Chief Technology Officer of SaaS startup Increff, has also exited the company. Lizzie Chapman, co-founder of Swiffy Labs, stepped down from her role after founding the company in August 2023 following the closure of her previous venture ZestMoney. The list also includes co-founders from hyperlocal delivery service Dunzo, Log9 Materials, and Clensta.

While there are the obvious exits where startups have floundered, what is good to see is how many startups have seen changes to accommodate professionals who have made an impact. Firms going public, or after going public usually see changes as the new reality of higher scrutiny and compliances is too onerous for a lot of founders. The churn at startup corner offices is a positive pointer also of how family owned businesses in India could plan transitions, where the next generation is not as keen on the business. One still has mixed feelings about elevating professionals  to co-founder designations, as there is nothing quite like the risk and narrative of actual founders taking the first plunge.