Sequoia hires Gojek exec as operating partner; July Ventures names managing partners

By Joseph Rai

  • 04 Aug 2020
Credit: 123RF.com

Sequoia Capital India has tapped into its Indonesian portfolio company Gojek to fill in the role of an operating partner.

Ajey Gore, who was serving as group chief technology officer at Gojek, has joined as operating partner for technology at Sequoia, the venture capital firm said in a blog post. He will be based in Singapore.

Gore will work with the CTOs of Sequoia’s portfolio companies by providing insight and expertise in building and scaling engineering, data science, product and design functions. He will also help CTOs build and mentor teams.

So far, Anandamoy ‘Roy’ Roychowdhary, director of technology, had led this function at Sequoia for the last seven years. Roy has transitioned into a full-time investment advisory role as a principal with Sequoia’s accelerator programme Surge.

Gore had previously founded CodeIgnition, which was acquired by Gojek in 2016. Prior to that, he was CTO at Hoppr, which was acquired by Hike Messenger, and head of technology at ThoughtWork.

Meanwhile, July Ventures has appointed Amitabh Srivastava and Ravindra Krishnappa as its managing partners.

Srivastava has over three decades of experience as a venture capitalist, angel investor, serial entrepreneur, and as a senior executive with corporate houses, according to his LinkedIn profile. He is also a member of the Indian Angel Network (IAN) and managing partner at the network’s IAN Fund.

Krishnappa is also a member of the IAN and founding partner at VertEXperts Consulting, an angel funding and startup incubation specialist partnership venture, according to his LinkedIn profile.

July Ventures, which was founded in 2018, is a sector-agnostic investment firm with focus on capital-efficient technology-enabled businesses developed in India, according to its website. It has Vidya Sagar designated as a partner.