Akash Gupta, vice president and head of marketing at digital wallet firm MobiKwik, has resigned from the company to launch his own green-tech venture.
The startup, which will be based in Gurgaon, will roll out an app-based tech solution to help fight pollution, Gupta told VCCircle. "We have been working on a mass-adoption and affordable solution for the last three to four months," he added.
A MobiKwik spokesperson confirmed Gupta's resignation.
The timing is interesting as Delhi-NCR is battling thick smog and extremely poor air quality. "No one has been able to solve pollution problems despite identifying them,†Gupta said.
The startup will initially look to hire 20-25 people. “While we are looking at hiring in tech, we want smart operation managers and networking executives as we look to form partnerships with government departments and health organisations,†he explained.
Gupta said he will bootstrap the startup initially, but was looking at a few venture capital firms to raise funds.
Gupta started his career with IT firm Infosys as a software engineer in September 2005. Soon after, he moved to research firm Frost & Sullivan and, thereafter, Dell Technologies. His next stints were at Airtel’s DTH division, where he rose through the ranks to become national acquisition head, and e-tailer Snapdeal. He joined Mobikwik as general manager - marketing, and got elevated as vice president and head of marketing.
Earlier this month, MobiKwik said it was beefing up its leadership team with a series of hires ahead of ramping up its offline play.
In a statement, the company said it had hired Rahul Lodha, co-founder of home design and building platform Renomania, as vice president of technology. Apurva Anand, former national sales manager at Paper Boat’s parent firm Hector Beverages, joined the company as national sales lead for offline retail. The payments platform has also hired former Flipkart deputy general counsel Lokesh Rajpal as its chief general counsel.
As many as seven other senior-level positions, including CFO and business head – lending, were likely to be filled up soon, the statement said. The company added that it was expanding its payment gateway team to 100 across Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata and Bangalore offices by the end of the current fiscal.
One MobiKwik Systems Pvt. Ltd, which runs MobiKwik, entered into an agreement with non-banking financial company Bajaj Finance Ltd in August to sell a 10.83% stake for about Rs 225 crore ($35.4 million). The mobile wallet firm had been in talks with existing as well as new investors to raise about $100 million at a valuation of $1 billion (Rs 6,400 crore). But the deal with Bajaj Finance valued MobiKwik around Rs 2,077 crore ($327 million).
