e-commerce
Amazon business head join Housing.com, to strengthen full-service transactions
MUMBAI: Housing.com has appointed Vivek Jain as chief product and technology officer to focus on strengthening the product and engineering aspects of the business to help steer Housing.com towards its goal of becoming a full-service transaction player.
Housing.com CEO Jason Kothari said, “Our goal is to become the most trusted and the leading end-to-end real estate transaction platform in the country, and robust product and technology innovation will be important for us to achieve that. Vivek comes with best-in-class product and technology leadership experience, global exposure and an entrepreneurial mind-set, which is a unique mix, and one that blends seamlessly with the thinking and culture at Housing.com. I believe Vivek’s addition to our senior team will greatly benefit us in realizing our vision for the Company.”
Jain is an industry veteran with over 14 years of experience in the technology and digital domains in India and the US. In his last role at Amazon, he was the business head for the cloud division where he helped define the value proposition, differentiation strategy, pricing and feature roadmap to create a sustainable competitive advantage for the company.
“As technology continues to play an increasingly important role in our day-to-day lives, Housing.com has managed to bring the benefits of technology to the real-estate segment through path-breaking product innovations. As the company gears-up for the next phase of growth and transformation, product and engineering will define the contours of success, and with an immensely talented team, I believe Housing.com is well-poised to fulfil the potential.” added Jain.
He started his career as an early member of Texas-based start-up Ashley Laurent and later joined Motorola Mobility, a division of Google. While in the US, Jain was associated with the US Department of Commerce where he reviewed business plans at Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) to help assist President Obama and the Federal Government deliver on the promise of economic recovery (ARRA) through the $7.2 Billion Recovery Act’s BTOP & Broadband Initiatives.
e-commerce
ONDC names Vibhor Jain MD and CEO; Rohit Lohia joins as CBO, Manoj Thakur as CTO
Leadership formalised as open commerce network sharpens focus on scale and user value
The Open Network for Digital Commerce has formalised Vibhor Jain as managing director and chief executive officer, cementing a leadership transition at India’s ambitious open commerce platform as it pushes for scale and relevance.
Jain, who had been serving as acting chief executive officer since April last year following the exit of Thampy Koshy, steps into the role with effect from 7th April , according to a report by The Economic Times. He previously served as chief operating officer at the government-backed network, which enables buyers and sellers to transact across applications through an open, interoperable system.
Setting out his strategy, Jain underscored the network’s differentiated architecture. “Going forward, we are concentrating on what open, interoperable infrastructure can uniquely enable, things that no single platform has the incentive or the architecture to do,” he said.
He added that the immediate priority is to widen ONDC’s impact across user cohorts often underserved by platform-led commerce. “My priority is to deepen the value ONDC creates for the people it exists to serve: kisaans, karigars, kiranas, gig workers, first-time investors, and daily commuters across India,” he said.
Jain also flagged leadership reinforcement within the organisation, noting that ONDC has “a strong and exciting leadership team in place”, with Rohit Lohia joining as chief business officer and Manoj Thakur as chief technology officer.
With over 18 years of experience spanning entrepreneurship and consulting, Jain brings a track record in technology-led, large-scale transformation programmes and internet businesses. At ONDC, he has been closely involved in shaping strategy and operations as the network seeks to move digital commerce away from platform-centric models towards an open network approach.
Before ONDC, Jain worked with JUMO, where he helped set up the fintech firm’s India operations, and led the India launch of Mobike, handling regulatory, policy and operational aspects of its market entry. Earlier, he co-founded Atlanta Healthcare, an air quality management company, and spent more than a decade in consulting roles at Andersen and EY, advising governments on public policy and technology-driven reforms, including work on the Aadhaar programme and tax systems.
The mandate is clear but the path is complex. As ONDC attempts to rewrite the rules of digital commerce, Jain now carries the burden of turning open architecture into mass adoption, in a market still dominated by platform power.
