Avnish Anand, CaratLane’s cofounder and COO, has been appointed to CEO with immediate effect, just days after his previous employer and cofounder Mithun Sacheti quit the company, selling his shares to Tata Group‘s timepiece behemoth Titan.
Sacheti and his family owned 27.18% of the firm, which was acquired by Titan last week for INR 4,621 crore, valuing CaratLane at INR 17,000 crore (about $2 billion). Titan currently controls 98.28% of CaratLane.
Titan will fund the transaction using a combination of cash balances, internal accruals, and debt, according to the business. The transaction is still subject to regulatory clearance from India’s Competition Commission (CCI) and other closing conditions.
If all permissions are obtained, the transaction is scheduled to be finalized by October 31st.
Former CaratLane CEO Sacheti’s exit was also one of India’s greatest e-commerce exits, second only to the Walmart-Flipkart deal, in which the two cofounders, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, each received more than $1 billion for their interest in the e-commerce behemoth.
The business also said that cofounder Gurukeerthi Gurunathan will continue to serve as CaratLane’s chief technology officer (CTO).
“Mithun has been a pillar of support and a sounding board for all of my ideas over the years, so it’s understandably sad to see him go.” But I’m extremely happy for this new chapter since we have a fantastic chance ahead of us to grow a bigger and more outstanding business,” Anand, CaratLane’s new CEO, said in a statement.
through addition, the remaining 1.72% of the startup’s equity is held through ESOPs for 75 of its 400 corporate workers. Given that Titan will also be acquiring the remaining interest in CaratLane, these workers are expected to earn INR 340-380 Cr as compensation.
CaratLane, founded in 2008 by Mithun Sacheti and Srinivasa Gopalan, is an omnichannel business that makes and sells jewels in India and the United States. The firm competes with other domestic jewellery startups such as GIVA, BlueStone, and Melorra.
The D2C brand has shown significant development over the last three years, with total revenue increasing from INR 723 Cr in fiscal year 2020-2021 (FY21) to INR 1,267 Cr in FY22. In FY23, its total income increased by more than 71% year on year (YoY) to INR 2,177 Cr.
