Info Edge CFO Chintan Thakkar Quits, To Helm IAN Group As CEO

SUMMARY

Thakkar will continue to be with Info Edge for the next three months to complete his notice period

In his new role, Thakkar will oversee seed and early-stage investments and will also provide critical guidance to the recently launched IAN Alpha Fund

Since its inception in 2006, IAN Group has invested close to INR 900 Cr in more than 225 startups including the likes of Propelld, Wooden Street, Zypp, among others

After an over 12-year stint, Info Edge CFO Chintan Thakkar has resigned to take up the role of group CEO at IAN Group (formerly India Angel Network).

Thakkar will continue to be with Info Edge for three months, completing his notice period.

During his tenure at Info Edge, Thakkar played a key role in establishing AIFs and investment vehicles for Info Edge that ultimately enabled the company to become one of the more prolific startup investors in India. Thakkar also helmed the Naukri parent’s startup investment arm, Startup Investment (Holding) Limited, as its CEO.

With over a decade of experience gained while scaling Info Edge’s startup investment business, Thakkar is now pivoting to investments full time by joining seed and early-stage investment platform IAN Group. Besides, he will also provide critical guidance to the recently launched IAN Alpha Fund as a senior managing partner for the fund.

“In my pursuit of empowering experiences and enriching growth, I will transition into a career in investments as Group CEO of IAN Group and senior managing partner at IAN Alpha Fund,” Thakkar’s resignation letter read.

For IAN Group, the appointment is a part of its strategy to augment the Group, the investor network said in a statement.

Helmed by the likes of Saurabh Srivastava, Raman Roy, Mohit Goyal, Padmaja Ruparel, among others, IAN Group has been active as an investment vehicle in the Indian startup ecosystem since 2006. Over the years, it has invested close to INR 900 Cr in more than 225 startups.

“With the induction of Chintan, our management team, comprising Rajnish Kapur, Madhav Sikka and Sarika Saxena, is significantly strengthened, giving us the management bandwidth to achieve our vision of INR 5,000 Cr investment, spawning 500 startups and creating 500,000 jobs,” Ruparel said on the appointment of Thakkar.

In 2017, IAN Group evolved from an angel network to a VC firm when it launched its first VC fund, IAN Fund I in 2017 with a target corpus of INR 375 Cr. It launched its second funding in late 2022 with a target corpus of INR 1,000 Cr. While the group announced the first close of the fund in 2023 at INR 355 Cr, it is yet to mark the final close of the fund.

IAN Alpha Fund invests between $1 Mn to $5 Mn in early-stage startups. IAN Group counts startups like Propelld, Wooden Street, Zypp, among others, in its portfolio.

Meanwhile, Info Edge said that its former CFO Ambarish Raghuvanshi will take over as the interim CFO of the company, effective November 20 this year, till it doesn’t appoint a new CFO.

Raghuvanshi joined Info Edge in 2000 and served as its director and CFO till 2014. Since then, he has been advising companies on IPOs, finance, and governance, while also being an active early-stage investor both directly and through VC funds.