ThinkStock PhotosKOLKATA/BENGALURU: Amid a 50-60% slump in CXO hiring and layoffs galore, a handful of startups and ecommerce companies are using the opportunity to bolster their top decks.
BasicFirst, Dream Sports, FarEye, Licious, Myntra, Milk Mantra, Vedantu, HouseJoy, Zivame and BharatPe are among those that have onboarded top-level hires even as the Covid-19-induced lockdown disrupted almost all businesses across sectors.
Many other companies operating in sectors that have been less affected – and even thriving during the lockdown – such as edtech, SaaS, managed data centres, digital payments, OTT, gaming, artificial intelligence and machine learning, are scouting for CXO talent, recruiters and company officials said.
Razorpay, BharatPe, upGrad, Paytm, Vedantu, WhiteHat Jr, Unacademy are among those on the lookout, they said.
The crisis has opened up opportunities for some startups to bring in senior talent to help them get ready for the new normal where digital technology and services players are set to play a key role.
“All signs point to greater adaption of digital payments offline and we are preparing for this upsurge in business,” said Ashneer Grover, CEO of fintech company BharatPe. “The current market is the most efficient it has been in last three years for good quality talent,” he said.
BharatPe has this month hired Nishant Jain from Zomato as its chief business officer and Ankur Jain, a former Walmart Labs executive, as its chief product officer. The company is now scouting for a vice president, HR.
Online edtech firm upGrad has onboarded Arjun Mohan as its India CEO and Puneet Tanwar as president, technology, amid the lockdown.
“We have closed a couple more senior management positions on the product and business side, who will join in the next 4-6 weeks,” said Preeti Kaul, president-HR at upGrad.
Vedantu, an edtech platform that had raised Rs 96 crore as part of its Series C1 round in early April, is looking for senior talent in technology, product, finance, strategy, and HR, company CEO Vamsi Krishna said.
“Covid-19 has steered in an era of online learning, thus leading to ramping up of hiring,” he said. These companies are proving to be the pockets of hope at a time when hiring has almost stalled for startups in sectors such as travel, hospitality, app cabs, and food, according to Anshuman Das, managing partner at executive search firm Longhouse Consulting.
Nikhil Jaiswal, regional director at Michael Page India, said, “Companies working in digital payments, social media, etc. are doing well right now. Others in SaaS and cloud infrastructure are also capitalising on the current environment and focusing on hiring senior-level talent.”
Anuj Roy, managing partner at Fidius Advisory, said the demand is mostly for technology, product, and data science roles. The firm currently has nine leadership mandates across fintech, edtech and gaming, which is about one-third of the normal demand, he said.
Aravind Sridharan, head of technology, media and telecom sector at executive search firm EMA Partners, said some new-age ecommerce companies working in the interiors and construction space are also looking at hiring top talent.
Some of the top-level hires across startups and ecommerce over the last two months include Vineet Mehrotra as CEO of BasicFirst, Amit Bagga as chief revenue officer of FarEye, Yash Dayal as CTO of Zivame, Bibhu Nanda as COO of Milk Mantra, Dev Bajaj as chief corporate development officer for all investments and M&A at Dream Sports, Meghna Apparao as CBO of Licious, Lalitha Ramani as chief product officer of Myntra, and Arvind Singhal as COO of Vedantu.
BasicFirst, Dream Sports, FarEye, Licious, Myntra, Milk Mantra, Vedantu, HouseJoy, Zivame and BharatPe are among those that have onboarded top-level hires even as the Covid-19-induced lockdown disrupted almost all businesses across sectors.
Many other companies operating in sectors that have been less affected – and even thriving during the lockdown – such as edtech, SaaS, managed data centres, digital payments, OTT, gaming, artificial intelligence and machine learning, are scouting for CXO talent, recruiters and company officials said.
Razorpay, BharatPe, upGrad, Paytm, Vedantu, WhiteHat Jr, Unacademy are among those on the lookout, they said.
The crisis has opened up opportunities for some startups to bring in senior talent to help them get ready for the new normal where digital technology and services players are set to play a key role.
“All signs point to greater adaption of digital payments offline and we are preparing for this upsurge in business,” said Ashneer Grover, CEO of fintech company BharatPe. “The current market is the most efficient it has been in last three years for good quality talent,” he said.
BharatPe has this month hired Nishant Jain from Zomato as its chief business officer and Ankur Jain, a former Walmart Labs executive, as its chief product officer. The company is now scouting for a vice president, HR.
Online edtech firm upGrad has onboarded Arjun Mohan as its India CEO and Puneet Tanwar as president, technology, amid the lockdown.
“We have closed a couple more senior management positions on the product and business side, who will join in the next 4-6 weeks,” said Preeti Kaul, president-HR at upGrad.
Vedantu, an edtech platform that had raised Rs 96 crore as part of its Series C1 round in early April, is looking for senior talent in technology, product, finance, strategy, and HR, company CEO Vamsi Krishna said.
“Covid-19 has steered in an era of online learning, thus leading to ramping up of hiring,” he said. These companies are proving to be the pockets of hope at a time when hiring has almost stalled for startups in sectors such as travel, hospitality, app cabs, and food, according to Anshuman Das, managing partner at executive search firm Longhouse Consulting.
Nikhil Jaiswal, regional director at Michael Page India, said, “Companies working in digital payments, social media, etc. are doing well right now. Others in SaaS and cloud infrastructure are also capitalising on the current environment and focusing on hiring senior-level talent.”
Anuj Roy, managing partner at Fidius Advisory, said the demand is mostly for technology, product, and data science roles. The firm currently has nine leadership mandates across fintech, edtech and gaming, which is about one-third of the normal demand, he said.
Aravind Sridharan, head of technology, media and telecom sector at executive search firm EMA Partners, said some new-age ecommerce companies working in the interiors and construction space are also looking at hiring top talent.
Some of the top-level hires across startups and ecommerce over the last two months include Vineet Mehrotra as CEO of BasicFirst, Amit Bagga as chief revenue officer of FarEye, Yash Dayal as CTO of Zivame, Bibhu Nanda as COO of Milk Mantra, Dev Bajaj as chief corporate development officer for all investments and M&A at Dream Sports, Meghna Apparao as CBO of Licious, Lalitha Ramani as chief product officer of Myntra, and Arvind Singhal as COO of Vedantu.
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