Founder Salaries Tracker FY24: How Much Did Startup Founders Earn?

A total of 59 founders of 33 Indian new-age tech companies took home INR 306.8 Cr in cumulative annual salary in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24)! However, the average founder salary plummeted 25% to INR 4.6 Cr in FY24 from INR 6.2 Cr in the previous fiscal year. This comes at a time when the startup ecosystem continues to be in the grip of the funding winter, which began in 2022. As investors tightened the purse strings following the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022, there was mayhem in the Indian startup ecosystem, which was riding high on the bull run of 2020 and 2021. Consider this: The total funding raised by Indian startups fell to $25 Bn in 2022 from $42 Bn a year ago. This number further plummeted to $10 Bn in 2023 and there was no improvement in the first half of 2024 as well. This acute funding crunch has meant that Indian startups have had to take drastic measures to cut their costs and extend their runways. Following the onset of the funding winter, startups reduced their advertising and marketing budgets to cut losses or turn profitable in FY23. They also resorted to massive restructuring exercises which resulted in thousands of employees losing their jobs. Some of them even shut down operations. Amid all these, Inc42 launched ‘Founder Salaries Tracker FY23’ to keep you updated with the salaries of the founders at a time when employees were losing jobs and taking pay cuts. Continuing that, we are bringing to you the tracker for FY24, which was not much different from FY23. Consolidation remained the main theme in FY24 as well, as startups looked to improve their bottom lines even if they had to compromise on growth in their top lines. As per the data collated by Inc42, the aforementioned startups posted a cumulative operating revenue of INR 79,540 Cr in FY24. Of these, 14 startups reported a combined loss of INR 5,554 Cr, whereas the remaining reported a total profit of INR 7,960 Cr. For a deep dive into the financial numbers, take a look at Inc42’s ‘FY24 Financials Tracker’. Now, let’s delve deeper into the salaries that the startup founders earned in the last financial year. The tracker will keep you informed about the remuneration earned by the founders in FY24, the percentage increase/ decrease in their salaries compared to FY23, and more. Editor’s Note: This list is not a ranking of any kind. The companies have been placed alphabetically. This is a running list and will be updated periodically. Founder Remuneration Tracker FY24 Companies are placed in alphabetical order | Data has been sourced from MCA filings, annual reports, and DRHPs | Company Founder Name Designation Annual Remuneration FY24 Annual Remuneration FY23 Operating Revenue FY24 Loss/Profit FY24 Awfis Amit Ramani Chairman, Managing Director 3.5 4.5 848.80 17.80 Bharatpe Nalin Negi CEO 2.48 1.5 1,426.00 -492.00 BigBasket (B2B) Sudhakar VS Cofounder, Director 1.2 1.2 10,061.00 1,415.20 BlackBuck Rajesh Kumar Yabaji Chairman, Managing Director, CEO 2 1.99 296.90 -193.90 Chanakya Hridaya Cofounder, COO 1.99 1.99 Ramasubramanian Balasubramaniam Cofounder, Head Of New Initiatives 2 1.99 boAt Aman Gupta Cofounder, CMO 2.5 2.5 3,117.70 -79.70 Sameer Mehta Cofounder, CEO 2.5 2.5 BookMyShow Ashish Hemrajani Cofounder, CEO 4.2 2 1,396.80 108.6 Parikshit Dar Cofounder 4.2 2 Cashify Mandeep Manocha Cofounder 0.92 0.91 935.00 -53 Nakul Kumar Cofounder 0.92 0.91 Amit Sethi Cofounder 0.95 0.95 Capillary Technologies Aneesh Reddy Cofounder, CEO 13.3 0.84 - Anant Choubey Cofounder, CFO, COO 1.1 0.83 Delhivery Sahil Barua Managing Director, CEO 2.89 3.1 8,141.50 -249.1 Kapil Bharati Cofounder 3 3 DroneAcharya Prateek Shrivastava Chairman, Managing Director 0.97 0.98 35.2 6.1 Nikita Shrivastava CFO, Director 0.32 0.23 FirstCry* Supam Maheswari Cofounder, CEO 103.8 200.7 6,480 -321.5 GlobalBees Nitin Agarwal Cofounder 0.9 1 NA NA Go Digit Jasleen Kohli Managing Director, CEO 3.47 3.36 7.096 182 Honasa Varun Alagh Cofounder, CEO 3.97 1.49 1,919.90 110.5 Ghazal Alagh Cofounder 1.79 0.99 Ideaforge Ankit Mehta Cofounder, CEO 2 0.83 317 47.8 Rahul Singh Cofounder, VP, Engg 2.1 0.83 Ashish Ramesh Bhat Cofounder, VP 2.1 0.83 IndiaMart Dinesh Agarwal Founder 5 3.8 1,196.80 334 Brijesh Agarwal Founder 3.65 2.75 ixigo Aloke Bajpai Chairman, Managing Director, CEO 2.7 1.93 655.9 73.1 Rajnish Kumar Director, Group Co-CEO 2.86 2.19 LEAD School Smita Deorah Cofounder, CO-CEO 1.3 1 NA NA Sumeet Mehta Cofounder, CEO 1.3 1 M2P Madhusudanan R Cofounder, CEO 0.7 0.89 382 -133.5 Meesho Vidit Aatrey Founder, CEO 2.6 1.9 7,615 -304.9 Sanjeev Kumar Barnwal Founder, CTO 2.6 2.7 Mensa Brand Ananth Narayanan Founder 2.5 2.1 577 -154.2 Ola Consumer Bhavish Aggarwal Founder 3.99 5.99 2,011.90 -328.50 Ola Electric Bhavish Aggarwal Founder, Managing Director 2.87 - 5,009.80 -1,584.40 OPEN Anish Achuthan Cofounder 0.8 1.53 NA NA Deena Jacob Cofounder 0.57 1.1 Ajeesh Achutan Cofounder 0.6 1.14 Mabel Chacko Cofounder 0.4 1 Paytm Vijay Shekhar Sharma Managing Director 4.4 4 9,977.80 -1,422.40 Pristyn Care Vaibhav Kapoor Cofounder 1.16 0.95 600.00 -381.00 Harsimarbir Singh Cofounder 1.16 0.95 Garima Sawhney Cofounder 1.16 0.95 PhonePe Sameer Nigam Cofounder, CEO 2.5 2.49 NA NA Rahul Chari Cofounder, CTO 2.5 2.49 Porter Pranav Goel Cofounder 1.1 1 2,733.70 -95.70 Uttam Digga Cofounder, CEO 1.1 1 RateGain Bhanu Chopra Chairman, MD 5.8 6.1 957 146.3 RareRabbit Manish Poddar Cofounder 0.5 0.5 637 74.5 Ashika Poddar Cofounder 0.5 0.5 Rebel Foods Jaydeep Barman Cofounder, CEO 0.92 1.12 1,420 -378.2 Kallol Banerjee Cofounder 0.92 1.12 TAC Security Trishneet Arora Chairman, Executive Director, Cheif Executive Officer 1.5 0.45 11.6 10 Unicommerce Kapil Makhija Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer 2.6 2.5 103.5 13 Urban Company Abhiraj Singh Bahl Cofounder, CEO 1.32 1.32 826.9 -92.7 Varun Khaitan Cofounder, COO 1.32 1.32 Raghav Chandra Cofounder, CPTO 1.32 1.32 NA NA WOW Momo Sagar Daryani Cofounder, CEO 0.85 0.85 470 -114.00 Binod Homagai Cofounder, COO 0.6 0.6 Shah Miftur Rahman Cofounder 0.75 0.75 Zerodha Nikhil Kamath Cofounder 33.9 48 9372 5,496.30 Nitin Kamath Cofounder CEO 33.5 48 *Note: Includes Share-based payments, reimbursements, bonus, variable pay, among others Supam Maheshwari | FirstCry Supam Maheshwari, the founder of recently listed ecommerce marketplace FirstCry, retained the top spot in terms of annual remuneration in FY24 as well. As per the startup’s red herring prospectus, the founder took home INR 103.8 Cr as remuneration in FY24, which was almost 50% lower than INR 200.7 Cr a year ago. However, it needs to be highlighted that this amount includes short-term employment benefits, share based payments accrual, and excludes provisions for gratuity, compensated absences and other long term employment benefits which have been actuarially determined and the amounts pertaining to the key managerial personnel (KMP) are not material. FirstCry reported an operating revenue of INR 6,480 Cr, with a loss of INR 321.5 Cr in FY24. Kamath Brothers | Zerodha Nikhil and Nithin Kamath, founders of Zerodha, clinched the second spot in terms of annual salaries in FY24. Nithin took home INR 33.5 Cr as gross salary during the year, a 30% decline from INR 48 Cr he took home last year. Similarly, Nikhil’s gross salary stood at INR 33.9 Cr in FY24, down 29% from INR 48 Cr in FY23. However, including the income clubbed under ‘other’ head, their total remuneration stood at INR 96 Cr each. Zerodha reported an operating revenue of INR 9,372.1 Cr, while its profit jumped to INR 5,496.3 Cr in FY24. Aneesh Reddy | Capillary Technologies Aneesh Reddy, the founder of SaaS startup Capillary Technologies, was at the third spot in the list. He took home INR 13.3 Cr in the last financial year, an increase of 1,480% from the gross salary of INR 84 Lakh in FY23. Aneesh received a share-based payment of INR 23.1 Cr in FY23, which plummeted to INR 50 Lakh this year. The startup, earlier this year, extended its Series D funding round to $140 Mn, securing $90 Mn in its secondary transaction. Bhanu Chopra | RateGain Publicly listed RateGain’s Bhanu Chopra took home INR 5.8 Cr in FY24, and was fourth on the list. However, his gross salary declined 5% compared to INR 6.1 Cr in FY23. The company’s net profit rose 114% to INR 146.3 Cr in FY24 from INR 68.4 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Operating revenue jumped 69% to INR 957 Cr from INR 565 Cr in FY23. Vijay Shekhar Sharma | Paytm Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the founder, chairman, MD and CEO of fintech giant Paytm, was at the fifth spot with an annual remuneration of INR 4.4 Cr during the year under review. Sharma, who is one of the most active angel investors in the county, saw a 10% hike in his annual remuneration in FY24 from INR 4 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Varun Alagh | Mamaearth Varun Alagh, the CEO of publicly listed beauty care startup Mamaearth, took home INR 3.97 Cr in annual remuneration in the recently concluded financial year. He received a hefty increment of 166.4% compared to INR 1.49 Cr he took home in the previous year. In comparison, his wife Ghazal Alagh, who is the cofounder of the startup, took home INR 1.79 Cr in remuneration in FY24, a jump of 80.8% higher than INR 99 Lakh in the previous fiscal year. The Delhi NCR-based startup reported an operating revenue of INR 1,919.9 Cr during the year under review with a profit of INR 110.5 Cr. Edited By Vinaykumar Rai Last Updated On March 27, 6:00 PM IST

Founder Salaries Tracker FY24: How Much Did Startup Founders Earn?

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