Brands
Jungle Ventures appoints Amrit Raj as partner and chief marketing officer
Bengaluru: Jungle Ventures is sharpening its platform play. The venture capital firm has appointed Amrit Raj as partner and chief marketing officer, a newly created role that signals a deeper push into brand-building, storytelling and founder support beyond capital.
Amrit joins Jungle’s core leadership team as its first partner-cmo, tasked with shaping the firm’s global platform strategy and working closely with portfolio founders through moments of scale, transition and reinvention. The appointment comes as Jungle’s portfolio stretches across sectors and geographies in India and South-east Asia.
A marketer with an operator’s scar tissue, Amrit brings a rare mix of marketing, communications, journalism and policy experience. He spent five years at Zetwerk as chief marketing officer during a phase of breakneck expansion, as the firm moved beyond manufacturing into renewable energy, electronics, capital goods, aerospace and defence, while expanding across India, the US, Europe and South-east Asia. Over that period, Zetwerk’s valuation jumped from about $600m to more than $3.1bn, while gross merchandise value surged from roughly $100m to over $2bn.
Before Zetwerk, Amrit held senior roles at ByteDance and Nissan, and earlier cut his teeth as a journalist at Mint, where he became one of the youngest editors to hold a leadership role at a major Indian newsroom. He is also an award-winning author; his book Indian Icon: A Cult Called Royal Enfield won the Gaja Capital Business Book Prize in 2021.
At Jungle, Amrit will be responsible for strengthening the firm’s brand and voice across markets, deepening engagement with founders and the wider startup ecosystem, and building differentiated marketing and communications capabilities aligned with Jungle’s investment strategy. As partner, he will work closely with the investment and platform teams, bringing an operator’s lens to growth, complexity and transformation.
“At Jungle, we believe enduring companies are built at the intersection of conviction, craft and credibility,” said Amit Anand, founding partner at Jungle Ventures. “As our portfolio scales across sectors and geographies, storytelling and brand-building must move from the edges to the core. Founders don’t need louder marketing; they need clarity, consistency and trust as they scale. Amrit brings a rare blend of operator rigour and narrative depth, shaped by building a global B2B brand through moments of complexity and transition. That lived experience makes him a natural partner at Jungle and a true, long-term partner to our founders.”
Amrit struck a similar note on joining the firm. “In a noisy ecosystem, what endures is trust built through clarity, consistency and honest storytelling,” he said. “Jungle has always stood out for the depth of its conviction and partnership with founders. I’m excited to help strengthen its narrative and support founders in building brands that are as credible and resilient as the businesses behind them.”
Alongside Amrit’s appointment, Jungle Ventures also announced the onboarding of Shruti Malhotra as director – content and community, further bolstering its platform and founder-support capabilities.
Shruti will operate at the intersection of content, community and founder engagement, with a mandate to build credible storytelling and stronger connections across Jungle’s portfolio and the broader startup ecosystem. She brings over two decades of experience in business journalism, media leadership and ecosystem-building.
Most recently, Shruti was editor – startups and new economy at CNBC-TV18, where she led flagship properties such as Young Turks and Startup Street, and shaped the channel’s startup and new economy coverage across television and digital platforms. Earlier, she was part of the founding teams at NDTV Profit, ET NOW and UTVi (Bloomberg TV), helping build some of India’s most influential business news platforms.
“Founders today are building in an environment of constant noise, scrutiny and short-termism,” said Amit Anand. “Shruti has spent her career separating signal from noise and creating platforms grounded in credibility and context. Her role at Jungle is about helping founders build trust over time through clarity of narrative, strength of community and integrity of voice.”
Founded in Singapore, Jungle Ventures backs startups across India and South-east Asia, often partnering with founders at the very start as their first institutional ‘yes’. With partners bringing more than 180 years of combined operating, venture and private-equity experience, the firm invests across consumer, financial services, manufacturing, energy, enterprise technology and digital commerce.
With two seasoned storytellers stepping into senior platform roles, Jungle is making its message clear: in a crowded capital market, conviction alone is not enough — credibility, clarity and community are the new edge.
Brands
Lotus Herbals unveils HydroActivated sunscreen with high-impact campaign
Harnaaz Sandhu fronts digital push spotlighting breakthrough sun care tech
MUMBAI: Lotus Herbals has rolled out a high-decibel marketing campaign to introduce what it calls India’s first hydro-activated sunscreen, aiming to reshape how consumers think about sun protection.
At the centre of the launch is the Safe Sun HydroActivated Sunscreen SPF 50+ PA+++, a formulation built on a patent-pending Hydrosome Technology that activates on contact with moisture. Unlike conventional sunscreens that can weaken with sweat, this product is designed to do the opposite, boosting protection when the skin is exposed to water or perspiration.
The campaign is led by Harnaaz Sandhu and is being amplified across OTT platforms, social media and outdoor locations in key metro cities. The brand film takes a light, relatable approach to everyday sunscreen struggles such as uneven application and fading protection, while positioning the new product as a reliable, high-performance alternative for active lifestyles.
Beyond its core technology, the sunscreen features next-generation UV filters and Edelweiss Flower Extract, offering hydration alongside protection. The formula claims up to 10 hours of water resistance and even, all-round defence against sun exposure and tanning, targeting consumers who want both skincare and performance in one product.
Speaking about the launch, Lotus Herbals chairman and managing director Nitin Passi said, “We are excited to launch India’s first sunscreen with hydroactivated technology which is our most innovative product launch. This isn’t just a sunscreen; it’s a technological breakthrough that utilises a novel manufacturing process. We’ve created a product that stays invisible on the skin yet becomes a performance powerhouse when the user is most active.”
Sharing her experience, Lotus Herbals brand ambassador Harnaaz Sandhu said, “I am thrilled to be associated with Lotus Herbals Safe Sun for their new sun protection campaign. In my world, there is no room for shortcuts, and I need functional and reliable products that work as hard as I do. The hydroactivated sunscreen is a game-changer because it blends with my skin and protects me better when I’m pushing my limits.”
The campaign is being distributed across platforms including JioStar connected TV integrations and ZEE5, along with television placements such as Sa Re Ga Ma Pa in West Bengal. A large influencer push involving over a thousand creators, along with in-store branding and retail activations, is also part of the rollout.
With a blend of science-led positioning and mass-market storytelling, Lotus Herbals is betting on innovation to stand out in the crowded sun care segment, hoping its moisture-powered promise strikes the right chord with today’s always-on consumers.
