JetSynthesys announces two key appointments for its gaming investment arm

JetSynthesys has appointed Sharan Tulsiani and Yash Baid to new roles. The duo will lead JetSynthesys' new global gaming investment venture working closely with the core leadership team which comprises Rajan Navani and Kris Gopalakrishnan amongst others.

Talking about the new appointments, Rajan Navani, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, JetSynthesys said, “The gaming ecosystem is currently at its exciting best, and there could not have been better timing to add two of the sharpest minds in this space to our team. Both Sharan and Yash come with complementary skills and industry experience and will work with me to bolster our gaming investment venture. We welcome them to the Jet family and look forward to an upward journey hereon.”

With nearly two decades of global gaming experience, Sharan Tulsiani joins as Head, Gaming Investments venture at JetSynthesys. Tulsiani was previously with Google, where he led gaming for Google Play for key growth markets such as India, Australia and New Zealand. He also forefronted Google’s Indie Games Accelerator, one of the world's most respected gaming programs, mentoring hundreds of early-stage studios worldwide. From running a gaming cafe business at 17 to building India's largest gaming community, and running digital marketing for Microsoft Xbox, Sharan’s multi-pronged expertise in the gaming industry has enabled him to grow gaming companies of all sizes across South America, Europe, Russia and Southeast Asia. 

On his new role, Sharan Tulsiani said, “Having been in the industry for long, I can certainly say that this is the most exciting time for India and Emerging Markets worldwide. Through my core industry work at Google, Microsoft and gaming startups, I’m confident that the Indian mobile gaming industry alone will beat its 2025 $5Billion prediction. Improved payment access and cheaper devices have made the increasing emerging market ARPU an irreversible trend which is now spawning fantastic opportunities for local studios. With such exciting times ahead, I am happy to join Rajan and other thought leaders at JetSynthesys and look forward to building great offerings together.” 

Yash Baid will lead Strategies for Gaming Investments venture at JetSynthesys after his past role as Principal at 3one4 Capital, a category leader amongst India's homegrown venture capital funds, having raised 5 funds in 5 years. Beyond start-up investments and portfolio management in high-growth verticals like fintech, edtech, enterprise SaaS, consumer brands and media, Yash also comes with immense experience having worked in diverse sectors like consulting, wealth management, and media. He has demonstrated a proven aptitude and leadership in driving strategy, investor relations, and high-value innovation projects that will strengthen the core of the gaming investments vertical for JetSynthesys.

Yash Baid said, “I am thrilled to join JetSynthesys at a time when the gaming industry is witnessing some strong tailwinds. The growth in mobile gaming (consumption and development) in emerging markets along with top-down consolidation will bolster early creation over the coming decades. We have a strong conviction in building a broader capital support model with an ethos of founder-centricity, which has historically not tracked into traditional investment frameworks. JetSynthesys’ string of successes built upon their depth of global expert gaming talents and an aptitude for being a strong investor-operator partner has helped me deepen my conviction. With JetSynthesys, we are determined to create the optimum support ecosystem for the next generational gaming companies to find a trusted partner with and flourish.”

Myntra's Harish Narayanan joins Upstox as Chief Growth Officer

Investment platform Upstox has appointed Harish Narayanan as Chief Growth Officer, Saurabh Agarwal as Vice President - New Initiatives, and Jayant Chauhan as Senior Vice President - Finance.

Ravi Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO, Upstox said, “It gives us great pleasure to welcome Harish, Saurabh, and Jayant to Upstox's leadership team. They bring with them immense experience and expertise. I'm confident that with them onboard, we will succeed in our endeavour to take Upstox's products and services to the next level and fulfil our drive of encouraging equity participation across the nation.”

Harish Narayanan, Chief Growth Officer, Upstox, will be responsible for driving full-funnel business growth, marketing, operational excellence, and strategic collaborations. Prior to joining Upstox, Harish served as the Chief Marketing Officer at Myntra, where he was responsible for all aspects of marketing, including brand, digital, performance, content, social, loyalty, B2B, creative design, and private brand. He was also leading the Brand Solutions and Creative teams as part of his responsibilities at Myntra.

Saurabh Agrawal, Vice President - New Initiatives, will lead the company strategy and new initiatives. He has more than a decade of expertise in the financial and banking services industry, with specialization in the payments ecosystem, stakeholder management, business growth, issue resolution, and programme management. Before joining Upstox, Saurabh worked at Revolut India where he was in charge of capex and opex, product and business development, as well as hiring and license acquisition. He has also held several positions with Deutsche Bank and Paytm in the past.

Jayant Chauhan, joining as Senior Vice President - Finance, Upstox, will be overseeing growth and profitability while delivering measurable improvements across multiple performance metrics. Jayant was the SVP - Global Strategic Finance at OYO before joining Upstox. He was a member of the global leadership team and was in charge of strategic finance functions such as capital raising, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate financial planning and analysis, cost structure analysis and optimization, business finance, investor relations, and IPO readiness.

Godrej Consumer Products India CEO Sunil Kataria to move on

Sunil Kataria, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of India and SAARC business at Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL), has decided to leave the company. The announcement was made on February 8 by the company’s management at a post-earnings investor call.

Prior to joining the Godrej Group, he was the chief operating officer of the Idea Rajasthan Circle, where he headed business operations and was responsible for the P&L. According to information available on GCPL website, Kataria also led a major turnaround of the Rajasthan business.

Kataria's role will be assumed by Sudhir Sitapati, the company’s current Managing Director and CEO who joined the company last year in October. Sitapati, who had served 22 years at FMCG behemoth Hindustan Unilever, was appointed as CEO and MD in May last year but joined on October 18.

During the company’s post-earnings call, Sitapati said, “After 11 high-impact years Sunil Kataria, CEO of our India and SAARC business has decided to pursue an external opportunity. I will directly run the India and the SAARC business as CEO in addition to my responsibility as managing director and global CEO".

Kataria joined GCPL in 2011, where he led the merger of the sales and marketing organisations of GCPL and the erstwhile Godrej Sara Lee.

Prior to joining Godrej Consumer Products, Kataria worked across FMCG and consumer services sectors in sales, marketing and business roles. He spent over a decade at Mumbai-based Marico.