Movers And Shakers Of The Week [April 5- April 10]: Bytedance Restructures Top Deck In India & More

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

Bytedance has moved its two key India executives to global roles. Nikhil Gandhi, head of TikTok India and South Asia shall now oversee TikTok’s operations in Middle East, Africa, Turkey and South Asia. Meanwhile, Abhishek Karwar, who heads user growth in India for ByteDance, has been made the head of global creative and emerging markets. According to an ET report, senior executives were shuffled to help them encash their ESOPs post the IPO of TikTok Global. 

The restructuring follows ByteDance’s announcement in January to scale back TikTok’s India presence and cut workforce following the TikTok ban. ByteDance, which now has 1,300 employees in India, was also forced to lay off non-essential staff in the wake of the ban. More recently, Bytedance has been involved in a legal battle with the Indian authorities over non-payment of taxes.

Ola Electric Brings On Former Hyundai Motor Executive To Head Global Sales

Ola Electric, which has invested heavily in two-wheeler electric mobility in India, appointed former Hyundai Motor executive Yongsung Kim as head of global sales and distribution. With 35 years of global experience with Korean brands Hyundai and Kia, Kim is in charge of the domestic and international strategy for sales at Ola Electric.

Ola is aiming to launch its first electric scooter in India and multiple international markets including Europe, the UK, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia. 

9Unicorns Hires Dubai-Based Deepak Khushalani As Venture Partner

Startup incubator 9Unicorns appointed Dubai-based entrepreneur Deepak Khushalani as its Venture Partner. He is also the founder and CEO of Premier Logistics, which he founded in 2016 to focus primarily on digitising businesses in the Middle East region. Khushalani has over 15 years of global experience spearheading FMCG distribution businesses in Africa and real estate development in the UAE & India.

Fintso Appoints Ex-Wall Street Fund Manager To Investment Advisory Council  

AI-based wealth tech platform Fintso has named Wall Street veteran Soumyo Sarkar in its investment advisory council. Sarkar has worked in Wall Street for over 35 years with a leading firm like Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch, Salomon Brothers and Lehman Brothers. Fintso recently raised $2.6 Mn from angel investors to build a B2B2C wealth management platform.

ISFC Appoints Khizar Momin As Its Chief Technology Officer

Education sector lender, Indian School Finance Company (ISFC) has appointed Khizar Momin as the chief technology officer (CTO). Momin carries over 20 years of experience and has held leadership positions at American Express, Bajaj Auto, Bajaj Finserv, and Cox & Kings Financial Service among others.

Edtech LEAD Appoints Ex-Nykaa CHRO

Edtech player in the K-12 education segment, LEAD has announced the appointment of Nirav Jagad as chief human resources officer. Jagad joins from beauty ecommerce platform Nykaa where he led HR operations from 2017. He was also associated with Randstad India and Cerberus Consultants. 

ImaginXP Hires Neeraj Sharma As Head Of University Partnerships 

Edutech enterprise ImaginXP has roped in Neeraj Sharma to lead university partnerships for its university partnered and embedded businesses. Dr Sharma carries the experience of having worked as the director of university partnerships and institutional alliances at upGrad which was preceded by a role as the chief growth officer at Talent Edge.

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