MAM
Pepperfry appoints Anand Batra as the chief financial officer
Mumbai: The e-commerce furniture and home goods company, Pepperfry announced on Friday the appointment of Anand Batra as its chief financial officer (CFO). This is Batra’s second stint with Pepperfry, his first being a five-year stint during the early days of Pepperfry’s inception. In his role as CFO, Batra will spearhead the organisation’s corporate strategy, fundraising efforts, financial operations, legal and secretarial functions. His appointment is effective immediately and he will be based at the Pepperfry corporate office in Mumbai.
Batra is a seasoned finance professional with more than a decade of experience in venture capital, business management, financial planning and operations, fundraising, strategy, and investment banking.
Before joining Pepperfry, Batra worked as executive director at Z3Partners, a leading tech and digital fund, where he was involved with the fund’s investments in Dealshare, Shipsy, Gramophone and Cyfirma. Earlier, Batra was a principal in the investing team at IvyCap Ventures, focusing on early-stage investments in Indian consumer and technology-enabled businesses.
Before starting his career as an investor, Batra headed up category management for the home goods business at Pepperfry. During this stint, Batra transformed the home business unit economics while maintaining high levels of customer experience. Batra headed up the financial planning and strategy function at Pepperfry, where he led fundraising efforts, apart from helping shape the company’s omnichannel strategy and launching business categories.
A graduate of the London School of Economics and Narsee Monjee College, Mumbai, Batra started his career as an investment banker at Lazard and Avendus Capital in India.
Pepperfry co-founder & CEO Ambareesh Murty said, “We are thrilled to welcome Anand back home. His contributions during Pepperfry’s formative years were invaluable and had helped steer our business through several transformational changes. I am a fan of his wide world view and look forward to working with him to chart Pepperfry’s future through India’s rapidly evolving digital and retail landscape.”
“It gives me great delight to rejoin the Pepperfry family. The company is a differentiated brand in the e-commerce space and has undisputedly built a community-based platform defining home and living. In its decade long journey, Pepperfry has shown all the makings of a strong consumer brand. I look forward to working closely with the team to drive the next phase of growth,” said Anand Batra.
Brands
Faber-Castell India appoints Sunaina Haldar as director – marketing
With stints at Tata, SleepyCat and ADF Foods under her belt, Haldar is primed to redraw Faber-Castell’s brand story
MUMBAI: Faber-Castell India has poached Sunaina Haldar from ADF Foods, appointing her director – marketing as the German stationery brand looks to muscle up in a category that is rapidly reinventing itself around creativity and self-expression.
Haldar hit the ground running. “My first couple of weeks have been incredibly energising, understanding consumers, visiting markets, engaging with retailers and immersing myself into the world of Faber-Castell Group,” she said.
She arrives with considerable firepower. At ADF Foods, Haldar ran marketing across India and international markets for a portfolio spanning Ashoka, Aeroplane, Camel and ADF Soul. Before that, she was vice-president – marketing at direct-to-consumer mattress brand SleepyCat, where she helmed brand, content and performance marketing. Her résumé also includes a stint leading marketing, new product development and CRM for Tata SmartFoodz at Tata Consumer Products, no small proving ground.
Between corporate roles, Haldar also operated as a fractional CMO for early-stage startups, building marketing strategy and operational structures from scratch, a signal that she knows how to move fast with limited resources.
With 18 years straddling FMCG, D2C and the startup world, Haldar now takes the reins at a brand that has long owned the classroom but is clearly hungry for the living room. In a stationery market where the pencil has become a lifestyle statement, Faber-Castell has picked someone who knows exactly how to sell that story.
