Ashish Shah

Ashish Shah is an Indian entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of Pepperfry, a Mumbai-based furniture and home décor company. Before that, he headed eBay's operations in India and the Philippines.

Education

Ashish was raised in Delhi. He received a degree in chemical engineering from the University of Pune and later acquired a materials management degree from The Institute of Management Technology in Ghaziabad.

Career

Ashish began his career in 1998 as a branch sales manager at Tradox Pigments & Chemicals. In 2000, he moved on to become the regional manager for the North at ChemB.com India. Between 2001 and 2004, he held various roles at different companies, including C1 (Commerce One) India Pvt. Ltd. as an associate consultant and Baazee.com as a manager in B2B Procurement.

In 2004, Shah joined eBay Motors India as the Head of Sales and Operations. Eventually, he also took charge of eBay Motors in both India and the Philippines from 2008. During his time at eBay, Shah met his future business partner, Ambareesh Murty.

Pepperfry

In 2011, Ashish Shah decided to leave his job as business head of eBay Motors and start his own business. While searching for furniture makers for his new online furniture store, he discovered Appu Arts. Despite being new to the furniture business, he had a knack for finding the right sellers. In January 2012, Ashish Shah and his business partner, Ambareesh Murty, founded Pepperfry with 12 team members. They chose the name for its distinct Indian identity and a touch of fun. Initial funding of $5 million came from Niren Shah, the Managing Director of Norwest Venture Partners India (NVP). In 2014, Pepperfry secured a $15 million investment from NVP and Bertelsmann India Investments. In 2022, Pepperfry became a publicly traded company and announced its plans for an initial public offering (IPO) in the second half of that year.

Before taking on the role of CEO, Ashish Shah served as the COO at Pepperfry, where he oversaw operations and product management.

In 2023, Pepperfry appointed him as the new CEO after the demise of former chief, Ambareesh Murty.

References