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Vivek Gambhir and Kevin Aluwi join Lightspeed as venture partners
Mumbai: Lightspeed expands its senior team in India and Southeast Asia by welcoming Vivek Gambhir and Kevin Aluwi as venture partners, reaffirming the firm’s long term commitment to the start-up ecosystem in the region.
Vivek Gambhir is a seasoned executive with over 30 years of experience as CEO, chief strategy officer, and board member in Consumer Goods (FMCG), consumer technology, management consulting. In India and the US until recently Vivek was the CEO at boAt and has transitioned into a board member role. Previously, Vivek was CEO and managing director of Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL) where he spearheaded the transformation and global expansion of the company to become a leading emerging markets home & personal care company. He also was the chief strategy officer of the group responsible for formulating group vision, defining portfolio strategy, mentoring company CEO’s and enhancing strategic capability of group companies. Prior to Godrej, Vivek was a founding member of Bain & Company’s consulting operations in India. He also serves on the boards of Metropolis Healthcare, Honasa Consumer (Mama Earth) and Samast Technologies (Magic Pin).
Vivek specialises in partnering closely with founding teams to scale up their businesses and accelerate value creation and will lend his rich leadership experience to the next generation of builders in the Lightspeed portfolio.
Kevin Aluwi was most recently co-founder and CEO at Gojek, one of the Southeast Asia region’s start-ups and Indonesia’s leading ride-hailing, food-delivery, and payments app which went public on the Indonesian stock exchange after merging with local e-commerce giant Tokopedia. His expertise and leadership in the Southeast Asian market are well illustrated through his journey and he is passionate about using his time at Lightspeed to help other founders as a thought partner on all parts of company building, particularly in product, marketing, and scaling organizations. As a fervent believer in the power of technology to advance humanity, he’s excited to work in service to visionary and tenacious founders (believing both in equal measure are necessary) from around the world.
Lightspeed partner Bejul Somaia shared ” At Lightspeed, the strength of our team and partnerships acts as a force multiplier for the founders we serve. We are thrilled to welcome Vivek and Kevin into our growing teams in India and SEA. In their roles as Venture Partners they will be collaborating with founders, shaping their journeys, and contributing to the growth and development of our portfolio companies in the region”
Lightspeed continues to focus on foundational sectors such as enterprise software, FinTech, consumer and commerce while leaning into emerging trends across AI, Climate and space-tech recognising the immense potential for growth in the region. The firm has partnered with more than 100 companies in India and Southeast Asia, including OYO, Udaan, Sharechat, Acceldata, Innovaccer, PocketFM, Darwinbox, Razorpay, Aspire and Youtrip, among others.
Lightspeed’s global platform supports bold founders across sectors, in any geography, and at any stage of their entrepreneurial journey. In addition, the portfolio companies are supported by a platform team of experts across legal, talent, marketing, finance and corporate development.
Brands
YES Bank hands the keys to SBI veteran Vinay Tonse as it bets on a new era
Former SBI managing director appointed as YES Bank’s new MD and CEO
MUMBAI: YES Bank is done rebuilding. Now it wants to grow. The private sector lender has appointed Vinay Muralidhar Tonse as managing director and chief executive officer-designate, with RBI approval secured and a start date of April 6, 2026 confirmed. The three-year term signals the bank’s intent to shift gears from crisis recovery to full-throttle expansion.
Tonse, 60, is no stranger to scale. Most recently managing director at State Bank of India, he oversaw a retail book of roughly $800bn in deposits and advances, one of the largest in the country. Before that, he ran SBI Mutual Fund from August 2020 to December 2022, a stint that saw assets under management surge from Rs 4.32 lakh crore to Rs 7.32 lakh crore across market cycles. Add stints in Singapore and four years leading SBI’s overseas operations in Osaka, and the incoming chief arrives with a genuinely global CV.
His academic grounding is equally solid: a commerce degree from St Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bengaluru, and a master’s in commerce from Bangalore University.
The appointment follows an extensive search and evaluation process by the bank’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee. NRC chairperson Nandita Gurjar said the committee unanimously backed Tonse, citing his leadership track record, governance credentials and ability to drive the bank’s next phase of transformation.
Non-executive chairman Rama Subramaniam Gandhi was unequivocal. “I am certain that Vinay Tonse, with his vast experience as a senior banker, will propel YES Bank to its next phase of growth,” Gandhi said, adding that the bank remains focused on strengthening its retail and corporate banking franchises and expanding its branch network.
Rajeev Kannan, non-executive director and senior executive at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, the bank’s largest shareholder, said Tonse’s experience across retail, corporate banking, global markets and asset management positioned him well to lead the lender. SMBC said it looks forward to working with Tonse and the board as YES Bank pursues its ambition of becoming a top-tier private sector lender anchored in strong governance and sustainable growth.
Tonse succeeds Prashant Kumar, who took the helm in March 2020 when YES Bank was in freefall following a severe financial crisis, and spent six years painstakingly stabilising the institution, rebuilding governance and restoring operational scale. Gandhi was generous: “The bank remains indebted to Prashant Kumar, who is responsible for much of what a strong financial powerhouse YES Bank is today.”
Tonse, for his part, struck a purposeful note. “Together with the board and my colleagues, I remain deeply committed to creating long-term value for all our stakeholders,” he said, pledging to build on Kumar’s foundation guided by his personal motto: Make A Difference.
Beyond the balance sheet, Tonse played cricket at college and club level and represented Karnataka in archery at the national championships — sports he credits with teaching him teamwork, situational leadership, discipline and focus. In quieter moments, he reaches for retro Kannada music, classic Hindi songs, and the crooning of Engelbert Humperdinck, Mukesh and Kishore Kumar.
YES Bank has its steady-handed rebuilder in Kumar to thank for survival. Now it has a scale-obsessed growth banker at the wheel. The next chapter starts April 6.
