Movers and Shakers Of The Week [8 -13 June]

We bring to you the latest edition of movers and shakers of the week in the Indian startup ecosystem.

Microsoft venture fund, M12, has set up an office in Bengaluru to bolster fundraising and partnership opportunities for Indian growth stage startups — Series A to Series C.

The venture fund will focus on B2B software startups in the sector of applied artificial intelligence, business applications, infrastructure, security and vanguard technologies. The fund will target both local and cross-border solutions.

M12 has been remotely investing in India since 2019 and its portfolio includes Noida-based healthcare data analytics startup Innovaccer and New Delhi-based logistics management startup FarEye. M12 invested $10 Mn in Innovaccer’s Series B round in January 2019. This was the venture fund’s first investment in an Indian startup.

Here’s a look at the other important movers and shakers of the week

Icertis Appoints Ajay Bhandari

SaaS startup Icertis has appointed Ajay Bhandari as the executive vice president and global head of professional services. He will lead Icertis’ implementation and service delivery teams.

For over 25 years, Bhandari has worked designing company strategies for enterprise-wide application deployments, like contract management, quickly deliver value. Previously, he has managed large global teams implementing Oracle, Salesforce, ADM and more.

Bellevue-headquartered cloud enterprise software startup Icertis is a provider of enterprise contract management in the cloud.

Google Cloud Appoints Anil Valluri

Google Cloud has appointed Anil Valluri as senior director of its India unit. He has joined Google Cloud from NetApp where he was president of India and SAARC operations. He has more than 30 years of experience in sales and marketing in the tech industry. Prior to NetApp, Valluri was working with Bay-area based venture capital firm Artiman Ventures.

Karan Bajwa, managing director at Google Cloud India, said, “Valluri has led some of the biggest technology MNCs in India and his experience will be invaluable as we continue our charter to help companies solve their most complex business and technology challenges.”

Google Cloud is the cloud computing platform of the tech giant which offers cloud services to startups and tech corporations.

OYO Hotels & Homes Appoints Dr W Steve Albrecht

OYO Hotels & Homes has appointed Dr W Steve Albrecht as a non-executive director on the company’s board of directors. As a non-executive director of the board, Albrecht will supervise and guide, the founder Ritesh Agarwal and the management, on key business decisions.

Albrecht is a former president of the American Accounting Association and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. As a professor, Albrecht taught full-time at the University of Illinois, Stanford and Brigham Young University. He is also a certified public accountant, certified internal auditor, and certified fraud examiner.

Founded in 2013 by Agarwal as a hotel chain, OYO has grown to a franchisee model. Its verticals vary from holiday homes, casino hotel and coworking spaces to budget hotels, corporate stays and more.

Uber Promotes Pradeep Parameswaran

US-based cab-hailing major Uber has promoted Pradeep Parameswaran as the regional head of the company’s Asia Pacific (APAC) business. Earlier the president for Uber India and South Asia, Parameswaran will now look after cab aggregator’s operations in around nine countries including India.

In a statement, Parameswaran said, “There is huge potential to serve more Uber customers and continue innovating across the diverse region, whether that be taxi partnerships in North Asia, new products like Uber Rent in Australia or pushing two and three-wheelers deep into the Indian heartland.”

Stay tuned for the next week of movers and shakers! 

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