Paytm’s Online Entertainment Ticketing Arm Elevates Varun Khare To COO

Paytm’s online entertainment ticketing arm Paytm Insider has elevated its business head for the live entertainment (intellectual properties and partnerships) segment, Varun Khare, to the position of chief operating officer (COO).

In his new role, Khare will lead the company’s operational strategies and drive its growth and innovation, Paytm Insider said in a statement.

Under Khare’s leadership, the company claims to have achieved over 100% growth in gross merchandise value (GMV) for each year since 2022.

Prior to Paytm, Khare served in various leadership roles at Fountainhead Promotions & Events Pvt. Ltd and Oranjuice Entertainment, as per his LinkedIn profile.

“Over the last 5 years we have built a full fledged platform which supports organisers with a range of services which spans Ticketing, Sponsorship, Artist Booking, Marketing and more. Varun has been instrumental in this build out, his vast experience across all aspects of organising an event has allowed us to build a platform which will champion events and organisers across this country.” said Shreyas Srinivasan, founder and chief executive officer, Paytm Insider.

Founded in 2014, the company was previously known as Insider.in. The company claims to offer a “hassle-free” ticket booking facility for live and online events, including concerts, sports events, stand-up comedy shows and much more. It has sold over 27.5 Mn tickets for over 150K events across the country. 

In 2017, Paytm acquired a majority stake in the event ticketing venture for $5.42 Mn (INR 35 Cr).