Brands
Libas appoints Saurav Shah as chief financial officer
Fashion retailer taps veteran finance hand to tighten discipline and fund expansion
NEW DELHI: Libas has appointed Saurav Shah as chief financial officer, bolstering its top deck as the ultrafast fashion brand pushes for sharper scale, tighter controls and sustainable growth in India’s crowded apparel market.
Shah will run financial operations, capital planning, performance management and governance frameworks, placing him at the centre of Libas’ expansion playbook as it grows its omnichannel and retail footprint.
A chartered accountant with nearly two decades of experience, Shah has worked across fashion, retail and consumer businesses, blending finance leadership with business strategy and commercial operations. His mandate at Libas is clear: build a financially agile, future-ready organisation that can fund innovation, absorb shocks and still grow fast.
He has served as chief financial officer at Jaypore Ecommerce, a subsidiary of Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited (ABFRL), as well as at Reliance Brands and KAZO. In those roles, he drove financial discipline, profitability and expansion in high-growth, multi-channel environments. He also headed finance for ABFRL’s international brands division, overseeing labels such as Galeries Lafayette and The Collective. Most recently, he was associated with ABFRL and KAZO, leading finance operations.
Earlier stints at Landmark Group, KPMG and USPL (WROGN) gave him grounding in governance, audit, taxation, compliance and business advisory.
“We are thrilled to welcome Shah to our team,” said Sidhant Keshwani, founder and chief executive, Libas. “His deep understanding of the fashion and retail landscape, coupled with his strong financial acumen, makes him an invaluable addition. As Libas scales across channels, his strategic approach to finance will be instrumental in building a resilient and growth-oriented organisation.”
Shah called the timing pivotal. “I am excited to join Libas at this important stage of its growth journey,” he said. “My focus will be on creating robust financial systems that support responsible growth, faster decision-making and long-term value creation. I envision scaling Libas responsibly, investing wisely and building a business that is sustainable for the long run, while staying true to the brand’s customer-first ethos.”
The hire comes as Libas doubles down on expansion and operational efficiency, positioning finance as a growth engine rather than a back-office function.
In India’s ultrafast fashion race—where trends change by the week and margins by the season—Libas is signalling that style may win attention, but discipline wins endurance.
Brands
UK’s OnlyFans seeks US investor at $3bn valuation after owner’s death
The adult video platform is seeking stability after the death of its billionaire owner
LONDON: OnlyFans is looking for a new partner. The London-based adult video platform is in advanced talks to sell a minority stake of less than 20 per cent to Architect Capital, a San Francisco-based investment firm, in a deal that would value the business at more than $3bn (£2.2bn).
The move is driven by an urgent need for stability. Leonid Radvinsky, the Ukrainian-American billionaire who owned OnlyFans, died of cancer last month at the age of 43, leaving the future of one of Britain’s most profitable privately held businesses suddenly uncertain.
The choice of Architect Capital is not arbitrary. The firm has deep expertise in financial services, which aligns neatly with OnlyFans’ ambitions to offer banking products to its creators, many of whom have long struggled to access basic financial services because of the nature of their work.
The numbers behind OnlyFans are, by any measure, staggering. The platform posted revenues of $1.4bn in the year to 30th November 2024, with a pre-tax profit of $684m, up four per cent on the prior year. Payments to creators totalled $7.2bn over the same period, a rise of nearly ten per cent. Radvinsky personally collected $701m in dividends from the business in 2024 alone, on top of more than $1bn in such payments he had already received. The platform, run through its parent company Felix International, hosts 4.6m creator accounts, with performers keeping 80 per cent of subscription proceeds and the platform pocketing the remaining 20 per cent. It has 377m fan accounts in total.
The current minority stake talks represent a notable scaling back of ambitions. In January, OnlyFans was reported to be in discussions with Architect about selling a majority stake of 60 per cent. Before that, the company had explored a sale to a consortium led by Forest Road Company, a Los Angeles-based investment firm. Neither deal materialised.
OnlyFans has built an enormously lucrative business on content that mainstream finance has long refused to touch. Now, with its owner gone and a $3bn valuation on the table, it is looking for the kind of respectable institutional backing that might finally persuade the banks to take its calls.
