Founder Salaries Tracker FY23: Amid The Funding Winter, How Much Did Startup Founders Earn?

Founder Salaries Tracker FY23: Amid The Funding Winter, How Much Did Startup Founders Earn?

Founder Salaries Tracker FY23: Amid The Funding Winter, How Much Did Startup Founders Earn?

The ongoing funding winter has resulted in layoffs and pay cuts for startup employees, giving rise to the question if startup founders have also seen a decline in their salaries

To answer this question and keep you up to date with the remunerations earned by the founders, Inc42 has launched the ‘Founder Salaries FY23 Tracker’

At INR 4 Cr, Nitish Mittersain of Nazara Games and Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma took home the highest salaries in FY23

The ongoing funding winter has brought about a significant transformation in the country’s startup ecosystem. The scarcity of capital compelled new-age tech companies to shift their focus from pursuing growth at any cost to achieving profitability. This also meant cutting down the cash burn, which resulted in companies taking aggressive cost-cutting measures, including pay cuts and layoffs.

According to Inc42’s layoff tracker, Indian startups have laid off more than 29,000 employees since the onset of the funding winter in 2022. 

While these drastic measures helped some startups turn profitable or reduce their losses, most of the startups still continue to be saddled with losses. As per Inc42’s ‘FY23 Financial Tracker’, 39 of the 54 new age Indian tech companies that have filed their financial statements for the year reported a combined loss of INR 25,905.21 Cr. 

Amid all these, it’s natural for one to ask that if the employees are losing their jobs and taking pay cuts, have the founders of the new-age tech companies also seen a decrease in their remunerations? To answer this question and keep our readers up to date with the remunerations earned by the founders, Inc42 has launched the ‘Founder Salaries FY23 Tracker’. 

The tracker will keep you informed about the remunerations earned by the founders in FY23, the percentage increase/decrease in their salaries compared to FY22, and more.

Editor’s Note: This list is not a ranking of any kind, we have placed companies alphabetically. This is a running list and will be updated periodically. 

Founder Remuneration Tracker FY23

Companies are placed in alphabetical order | Data has been sourced from MCA filings, annual reports, and DRHPs | The remuneration Includes salary, wages, & bonus

Company Founder Name Desgination Annual Remuneration FY23 Annual Remuneration FY22 Operating Revenue FY23 Loss/Profit FY23
Delhivery Sahil Barua Managing Director & CEO ₹ 3.1 Cr ₹ 2.88 Cr ₹ 7225.3 Cr ₹ -1007.7 Cr
Kapil Bharati Executive Director & CTO ₹ 3 Cr ₹ 2.42 Cr ₹ 7225.3 Cr ₹ -1007.7 Cr
Droneacharya Prateek Srivastava Founder, Managing Director ₹ 0.9 Cr ₹ 0.8 Cr ₹ 18.5 Cr ₹ 3.4 Cr
EaseMyTrip Nishant Pitti Cofounder, CEO ₹ 0.96 Cr ₹ 0.96 Cr ₹ 448.8 Cr ₹ 134.1 Cr
Prashant Pitti Cofounder ₹ 0.96 Cr ₹ 0.96 Cr ₹ 448.8 Cr ₹ 134.1 Cr
Rikant Pittie Cofounder ₹ 0.96 Cr ₹ 0.96 Cr ₹ 448.8 Cr ₹ 134.1 Cr
Ideaforge Ankit Mehta* Cofounder, CEO ₹ 1.24 Cr ₹ 0.69 Cr ₹ 186 Cr ₹ 31.9 Cr
Ashish Ramesh Bhat* Cofouner, VP ₹ 1.24 Cr ₹ 0.69 Cr ₹ 186 Cr ₹ 31.9 Cr
Rahul Singh* Cofounder, VP, Engg ₹ 1.24 Cr ₹ 0.69 Cr ₹ 186 Cr ₹ 31.9 Cr
IndiaMart Dinesh Agarwal Founder ₹ 3.8 Cr ₹ 3.45 Cr ₹ 985.3 Cr ₹ 283.8 Cr
Brijesh Agrawal Founder ₹ 2.75 Cr ₹ 2.49 Cr ₹ 985.3 Cr ₹ 283.8 Cr
LEAD Sumeet Mehta Cofounder, CEO ₹ 1 Cr ₹ 1.59 Cr ₹ 273.1 Cr ₹ -321.9 Cr
Smita Deorah Cofounder, Co-CEO ₹ 1 Cr ₹ 1.59 Cr ₹ 273.1 Cr ₹ -321.9 Cr
Licious Abhay Hanjura Cofounder ₹ 1.3 Cr ₹ 2.35 Cr ₹ 747.7 Cr ₹ -528.5 Cr
Vivek Gupta Cofounder ₹ 2.14 Cr ₹ 2.22 Cr ₹ 747.7 Cr ₹ -528.5 Cr
Mamaearth Varun Alagh Cofounder, CEO ₹ 1.49 Cr ₹ 1.13 Cr ₹ 1492.7 Cr ₹ -150.9 Cr
Gazal Alagh Cofounder ₹ 0.9 Cr ₹ 0.74 Cr ₹ 1492.7 Cr ₹ -150.9 Cr
MapMyIndia Rakesh Verma Founder, Chairman ₹ 1.5 Cr ₹ 1.5 Cr ₹ 281.4 Cr ₹ 107.5 Cr
Rohan Verma CEO ₹ 1.5 Cr ₹ 1.5 Cr ₹ 281.4 Cr ₹ 107.5 Cr
Moglix Rahul Garg CEO ₹ 2 Cr ₹ 2.18 Cr ₹ 4675 Cr ₹ -196.6 Cr
Nazara Games Nitish Mittersain CEO ₹ 4 Cr ₹ 3.3 Cr ₹ 1091 Cr ₹ 61.4 Cr
Nykaa Falguni Nayar Founder, CEO ₹ 1.15 Cr ₹ 2 Cr ₹ 5143.8 Cr ₹ 20.9 Cr
OneCard Vibhav Hathi Cofounder ₹ 1.5 Cr ₹ 0.7 Cr ₹ 541 Cr ₹ -405.6 Cr
Anurag Sinha Cofounder, CEO ₹ 1.5 Cr ₹ 0.7 Cr ₹ 541 Cr ₹ -405.6 Cr
Rupesh Kumar Cofounder ₹ 1.5 Cr ₹ 0.7 Cr ₹ 541 Cr ₹ -405.6 Cr
Paytm Vijay Shekhar Sharma Founder ₹ 4 Cr ₹ 3.7 Cr ₹ 7990.3 Cr ₹ -1776.5 Cr
PB Fintech Alok Bansal Cofounder ₹ 1.08 Cr ₹ 1.7 Cr ₹ 2557.8 Cr ₹ -487.9 Cr
RateGain Bhanu Chopra Founder ₹ 3 Cr ₹ 3 Cr ₹ 565.1 Cr ₹ 68.4 Cr
Xpressbees Amitava Saha Cofounder, CEO ₹ 2.24 Cr ₹ 2.24 Cr ₹ 2531 Cr ₹ -180.4 Cr
Zaggle Raj Narayanam Executive Chairman ₹ 1.02 Cr ₹ 1.02 Cr ₹ 553.4 Cr ₹ 22.9 Cr
Avinash Godkhindi CEO ₹ 0.82 Cr ₹ 0.7 Cr ₹ 553.4 Cr ₹ 22.9 Cr

Nitish Mittersain | Nazara Technologies

Nitish Mittersain, CEO and cofounder of publicly listed Nazara Technologies, was one of the highest-paid founders in the year under review. Mittersain took home INR 4 Cr as remuneration in FY23. His remuneration increased 21% from INR 3.3 Cr he earned in the previous fiscal year. 

Meanwhile, the Mumbai-based company reported an operating revenue of INR 1,091 Cr in FY23, a jump of 75% from INR 621.7 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Net profit rose 21% to INR 61.4 Cr from INR 50.7 Cr in FY22. 

Vijay Shekhar Sharma | Paytm

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the founder of Paytm and the poster boy of the Indian fintech sector, took home INR 4 Cr as remuneration in FY23. Sharma’s annual remuneration increased 8% from INR 3.7 Cr in FY22. 

On the other hand, Paytm reported a 1.6X jump in operating revenue to INR 7,990.3 in FY23 from INR 4,974.2 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Net loss reduced 26% to INR 1,766.5 Cr in FY23 from INR 2,396.4 Cr in the previous fiscal year. 

Dinesh Agarwal | IndiaMART

Dinesh Agarwal, the founder of publicly listed B2B ecommerce marketplace IndiaMART, took home the second highest salary in FY23. Agarwal, who founded IndiaMART in 1999, took home INR 3.8 Cr in salary, an increase of 11.8% from INR 3.4 in the previous year. 

The company reported an operating revenue of INR 985.3 Cr in FY23, an increase of 31% from INR 753.4 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Profit, however, dipped around 5% to INR 283.8 Cr from INR 298 Cr in FY22. 

Sahil Barua & Kapil Bharati | Delhivery

Sahil Barua, the cofounder and CEO of Delhivery, was fourth on the list with an annual remuneration of INR 3.1 Cr in FY23. This was a 11% increase from INR 2.88 Cr that he took home in the previous fiscal year. 

Kapil Bharati, the CTO of Delhivery, was fifth on the list with a remuneration of INR 3 Cr in FY23, an increase of 24% from INR 2.42 Cr in FY22.

Meanwhile, Delhivery reported a 5% jump in operating revenue to INR 7,225.3 Cr in FY23 from INR 6,882.2 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Loss was almost flat at INR 1,007.7 Cr in FY23 as against INR 1,011 Cr in FY22. 

Bhanu Chopra | RateGain

Bhanu Chopra, the cofounder of RateGain, took home INR 3 Cr as an annual compensation in FY23. While his remuneration was unchanged from FY22, Pratap also received bonus and incentives worth INR 3.1 Cr in FY23. His bonus and incentives stood at INR 3 Cr in FY22.

The traveltech SaaS startup reported a whopping 714% jump in its net profit to INR 68.4 Cr in FY23 from INR 8.4 Cr in the previous fiscal year. The Delhi NCR-based company saw its revenue from operations jump over 54% to INR 565 Cr from INR 366 Cr in FY22. 

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