Amit Gupta

Co-Founder, InMobi; Co-Founder & CEO, Yulu; Angel Investor at yulu

Reviewed Updated Apr 30, 2026

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Location Bengaluru, India
Check Size Angel checks; participates in syndicated seed/pre-seed rounds, often alongside other InMobi co-founders
Last Verified Investment Factors.AI (Seed) — Aug 2021
Social @amitgupta007 LinkedIn
Stage Focus
seed pre-seed angel
Sector Focus
fintech consumer-internet SaaS mobility healthtech logistics D2C AI

Background

Amit Gupta is Co-Founder and CEO of Yulu, India’s largest shared electric mobility-as-a-service company, headquartered in Bengaluru 12. He is also a co-founder of InMobi, India’s first profitable internet unicorn, which he co-founded in 2007 alongside Naveen Tewari, Mohit Saxena, and Abhay Singhal 13.

Gupta earned a B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 2000 14. He later attended Harvard Business School, completing an executive program (referenced as 2010 in press) 42. IIT Kanpur recognized him with its Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2013 “for his contributions to entrepreneurship and innovation” 1.

At InMobi, Gupta led the company’s global revenue engine and international expansion across 15+ countries, serving as Chief Revenue Officer with responsibility for InMobi’s footprint in China, the U.S., and Western Europe, and at one point as President of the North American business 42. InMobi raised $500K from Mumbai Angels at inception, a Kleiner Perkins/Sherpalo Series A, and SoftBank’s two-tranche $200M investment in 2011-2012 that minted India’s first unicorn 35.

In November 2017, Gupta stepped down from his operational role at InMobi to launch Yulu, an IoT-based shared micromobility startup focused on first-/last-mile commute and urban congestion 67. He told CIOL at the time: “I am not leaving InMobi. I have always had a desire to be aligned with a social cause,” and would “continue as co-founder at InMobi minus the operational capabilities” 6. Yulu was founded in August 2017 with co-founders RK Misra and Naveen Dachuri; Hemant Gupta has been named as a founding-era team member, and CFO Anuj Tewari was elevated to co-founder in November 2023 78.

Yulu has raised over $123M in equity (including a Yuma Energy carve-out): a Series A of $8M led by Bajaj Auto in November 2019, an additional $2M from existing investors at the same time, and a $82M (₹653 Cr) Series B led by Magna International with participation from Bajaj Auto in September 2022 791011. Yulu and Magna co-founded Yuma Energy, a battery-as-a-service joint venture, on which Gupta serves as an independent board member 712.

Stated Thesis

Gupta has not published a formal investment thesis. He is primarily an operator-angel; press profiles describe him as having backed “over 30 early-stage startups…as a gesture of giving back to the community,” with HealthifyMe, Applicate, and Vahak among his named angel positions 13.

In podcast and interview appearances, he has framed his decision-making philosophy around founder conviction and India-specific problem-solving rather than sector picks: “Entrepreneurship is not a cool subject. Let’s not do it, because it sounds cool…one should not pursue this journey unless there’s a huge conviction” 14.

Inferred Thesis

This analysis is based on 5 verified angel investments where Gupta’s participation is confirmed by a primary or contemporaneous press source. Tracxn lists 66 portfolio companies and 2 unicorns (Razorpay, Uniphore) 15; the Razorpay Rize “List of Startups Funded by Amit Gupta” surfaces 12 disclosed positions and references “over 30 early-stage startups” 13. Percentages below should be read as directional given the small verified sample.

Sector distribution (5 verified investments): Indian-market software and consumer/services dominate. Fintech is the most prominent sector — Razorpay (payments) is 1 of 5 (20%), and the broader portfolio described in interviews skews toward fintech and Indian SaaS 1613. Logistics/marketplace — Vahak (road transport) — is 1 of 5 (20%) 17. Enterprise/SaaS — Factors.AI (B2B marketing analytics) — is 1 of 5 (20%) 18. Consumer/D2C — Klub (revenue financing for D2C brands) and HealthifyMe (digital health) — account for 2 of 5 (40%) 1920. The bias is overwhelmingly Indian-founder, Indian-market.

Stage distribution: Almost exclusively seed and pre-seed. All 5 verified investments are seed or pre-seed angel rounds where Gupta participated as one of many syndicate angels rather than a lead.

Geographic focus: India-centric. All 5 verified portfolio companies are India-founded and India-operating, headquartered in Bengaluru (Razorpay, HealthifyMe, Factors.AI, Vahak) or Singapore-with-India-focus (Klub) 1617181920.

Co-investor patterns: Gupta’s most consistent co-investor pattern is the InMobi co-founder syndicate — Naveen Tewari, Mohit Saxena, Abhay Singhal, and Piyush Shah. Razorpay’s 2014 seed bundled three of the four named InMobi founders (Tewari, Gupta, Singhal) with Snapdeal’s Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, FreeCharge’s Kunal Shah, Ram Shriram (Sherpalo), Justin Kan (YC/Twitch), Bill Gajda (Visa), Jeff Huber (GoogleX), and Punit Soni (Flipkart) 16. Klub’s January 2020 pre-seed paired Gupta with Tewari and Piyush Shah of InMobi, alongside Kunal Shah of Cred, Rajesh Yabaji of Blackbuck, and Ramakant Sharma of Livspace 19. Factors.AI’s August 2021 seed was the strongest InMobi-syndicate signal — all five InMobi co-founders (Tewari, Singhal, Saxena, Gupta, Shah) plus Girish Mathrubootham (Freshworks) and the Chargebee co-founders 18. Beyond the InMobi network, Vahak (June 2020) paired him with Abhishek Goyal (Tracxn), Ramakant Sharma (Livspace), Harsh Pokharna (OkCredit), and Archana Priyadarshini 17. HealthifyMe (June 2015) paired him with Gopal Srinivasan (TVS Capital), Sashi Reddi (AppLabs), Pallav Nadhani (FusionCharts), and Roopa Nath 20.

Founder profile patterns: Network-driven sourcing. All verified deals come either through the InMobi co-founder cluster or through the broader Indian operator-angel network (Livspace, Cred, Blackbuck, Tracxn, Freshworks). There is no verified evidence of independent thesis-driven sourcing outside these networks.

Notable patterns vs. stated framing: Gupta has framed angel investing publicly as “giving back to the community” rather than thesis-driven return-seeking 13. The verified portfolio is consistent — small checks across ~12-66 companies (depending on aggregator), no concentrated fund, no published thesis page, and the most recent verified angel deployment (Factors.AI seed, August 2021) suggests his angel cadence has slowed since Yulu’s Series B 1518.

Notable exits/winners: Razorpay (now valued multi-billion dollars) is his marquee unicorn outcome from the 2014 seed 1516. Tracxn lists Uniphore as the second unicorn in his portfolio, but a contemporaneous round-level citation linking Gupta personally to Uniphore was not located within the time budget for this profile 15.

Portfolio

Company Year Stage Source
Razorpay 2014 Seed (one of 33 angels) 16
HealthifyMe 2015-06 Angel round (second round) 20
Klub 2020-01 Pre-seed ($2M round, via AngelList) 19
Vahak 2020-06-05 Seed (Leo Capital-led, undisclosed) 17
Factors.AI 2021-08 Seed ($2M round) 18

This table represents 5 verified entries against a wider portfolio of “over 30 early-stage startups” referenced on Razorpay Rize and 66 listed on Tracxn 1315. Shuttl, Applicate, Uniphore, and other names appear in aggregator profiles, but specific contemporaneous round-level citations linking Gupta personally to those rounds were not located within the time budget for this profile 1315.

In Their Own Words

“I am not leaving InMobi. I have always had a desire to be aligned with a social cause.” — Amit Gupta on stepping back from InMobi to launch Yulu, CIOL, November 24, 2017 6

“Entrepreneurship is not a cool subject. Let’s not do it, because it sounds cool…one should not pursue this journey unless there’s a huge conviction.” — Amit Gupta, Neon podcast “Inside the mind of Amit Gupta” 14

“The first five years you are just building tranches, you actually build a building after those wins, you have prepared the base work.” — Amit Gupta on the patience required in startup-building, Neon podcast 14

“We had this belief that in India, mobile phone will be mainstream media…We thought that for India, maybe SMS will be the mainstream, because we saw that everyone is hooked on SMS.” — Amit Gupta on the founding insight behind InMobi’s predecessor mKhoj, Neon podcast 14

“The thesis was create something which is sturdy, safe, and as small as possible for a single rider.” — Amit Gupta on Yulu vehicle design, Neon podcast 14

“Something which Demonetization did for digital payments, I think COVID actually has done something for Yulu.” — Amit Gupta on the pandemic accelerating Yulu adoption, Neon podcast 14

“It’s not built for usage. It is built for abuse.” — Amit Gupta on Yulu vehicle engineering, Founder Thesis interview with Akshay Datt 21

“We’re the backbone of quick commerce business in India.” — Amit Gupta on Yulu’s role in last-mile delivery, EvoIndia interview, January 16, 2025 2

“Even today, we have no direct competition. We’re unique in what we do, and that gives us a strong strategic advantage.” — Amit Gupta on Yulu’s market position, EvoIndia, January 16, 2025 2

“For someone who might have earned ₹15,000–16,000 as a housekeeping worker, they can now make ₹28,000–30,000 as a delivery person.” — Amit Gupta on Yulu’s gig-worker impact, EvoIndia, January 16, 2025 2

“We can clearly see a 100X growth opportunity for Yulu in both the BaaS and MaaS businesses in the next three-four years.” — Amit Gupta on Yulu’s Series B announcement, September 2022 1110

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials found. Gupta has been publicly identified as an angel in rounds for Razorpay, HealthifyMe, Klub, Vahak, and Factors.AI 1617181920, but specific first-person quotes from those founders (e.g., Harshil Mathur or Shashank Kumar of Razorpay; Tushar Vashist or Sachin Shenoy of HealthifyMe; Karan Shaha of Vahak; Praveen Das of Factors.AI; Anurakt Jain or Ishita Verma of Klub) describing the working relationship with Gupta were not located in the time budget for this profile.

Connections

  • Co-Founder, InMobi — Co-founded InMobi (then mKhoj) in 2007 with Naveen Tewari, Mohit Saxena, and Abhay Singhal; held Chief Revenue Officer and President, North America roles before stepping down operationally in November 2017 346
  • Co-Founder & CEO, Yulu (since August 2017) — co-founded with RK Misra and Naveen Dachuri; CFO Anuj Tewari elevated to co-founder in November 2023 78
  • Independent Board Member, Yuma Energy — battery-as-a-service joint venture between Yulu and Magna International 712
  • InMobi co-founder syndicate — Most consistent co-investor pattern: angel rounds in Razorpay (2014), Klub (2020), and Factors.AI (2021) bundled Gupta with one or more of his InMobi co-founders Naveen Tewari, Mohit Saxena, Abhay Singhal, and Piyush Shah 161819
  • Razorpay 2014 seed angel network — Co-invested with Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, FreeCharge founders Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandon, Justin Kan (YC/Twitch), Ram Shriram (Sherpalo), Jeff Huber (GoogleX), Bill Gajda (Visa), and Punit Soni (Flipkart) 16
  • Vahak 2020 seed angel network — Co-invested with Abhishek Goyal (Tracxn), Ramakant Sharma (Livspace), Harsh Pokharna (OkCredit), and Archana Priyadarshini 17
  • Bajaj Auto strategic partnership — Yulu Series A lead investor (Nov 2019) and Series B participant (Sep 2022); collaboration on co-designed electric two-wheelers manufactured at Bajaj’s Pune facility 910
  • Magna International strategic partnership — Yulu Series B lead investor (Sep 2022) and Yuma Energy JV partner 117
  • IIT Kanpur alumni network — B.Tech. Mechanical Engineering 2000; Distinguished Alumnus Award 2013 14
  • Harvard Business School alumni network — Executive program graduate (referenced 2010 in press) 4

Sources

  1. IIT Kanpur Distinguished Alumnus profile, “Mr Amit Gupta,” accessed April 2026. https://iitk.ac.in/dora/profile/Mr-Amit-Gupta↩↩↩↩↩

  2. EvoIndia, “‘We’re the backbone of quick commerce business in India,’ Yulu’s Amit Gupta on empowering gig workers and shaping the future of electric mobility,” January 16, 2025. https://www.evoindia.com/features/interviews/interview-with-yulu-ceo-amit-gupta↩↩↩↩↩↩

  3. Wikipedia, “InMobi,” accessed April 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InMobi↩↩↩

  4. DNA India, “Meet Amit Gupta, Harvard alumnus and the brain behind Rs 50 crore revenue company,” accessed April 2026. https://www.dnaindia.com/business/report-meet-amit-gupta-harvard-alumnus-and-the-brain-behind-rs-50-crore-revenue-company-yulu-305435↩↩↩↩↩↩

  5. Fortune, “India’s first-ever unicorn is planning for a 2021 U.S. IPO,” March 31, 2021. https://fortune.com/2021/03/31/inmobi-ipo-us-valuation-india-first-unicorn-naveen-tewari/↩

  6. CIOL, “InMobi co-founder Amit Gupta steps down; launches a bike sharing startup,” November 24, 2017. https://www.ciol.com/inmobi-co-founder-amit-gupta-steps-launches-bike-sharing-startup/↩↩↩↩

  7. Wikipedia, “Yulu (transportation company),” accessed April 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yulu_(transportation_company) ↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  8. Inc42, “Shared Mobility Startup Yulu Names CFO Anuj Tewari As New Cofounder,” accessed April 2026. https://inc42.com/buzz/shared-mobility-startup-yulu-names-cfo-anuj-tewari-as-new-cofounder/↩↩

  9. TechCrunch, “India’s electric bike rental startup Yulu inks strategic partnership with Bajaj Auto, raises $8M,” November 25, 2019. https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/25/yulu-bajaj-auto/↩↩

  10. Autocar Professional, “Yulu gets fresh Rs 633 crore funding led by Magna International and Bajaj Auto,” September 12, 2022. https://www.autocarpro.in/news-national/yulu-gets-fresh-rs-653-crore-funding-led-by-magna-international-and-bajaj-auto-92772↩↩↩

  11. Mercom India, “Yulu Raises $82 Million Equity Funding to Ramp Up Mobility, Battery Swapping Businesses,” September 14, 2022. https://www.mercomindia.com/yulu-82-million-equity-funding-mobility-battery-swapping↩↩↩

  12. Tracxn, “Yuma Energy - Founders and Board of Directors,” accessed April 2026. https://tracxn.com/d/companies/yuma-energy/__Ut0c9ApdEwEbhUxc8vSQjGOElalbK3iYMR9_9vHaeEA/founders-and-board-of-directors↩↩

  13. Razorpay Rize, “List of Startups Funded by Amit Gupta,” accessed April 2026. https://razorpay.com/rize/investors-list/amit-gupta↩↩↩↩↩↩

  14. Neon Fund, “Inside the mind of Amit Gupta, Co-Founder, Yulu and InMobi,” accessed April 2026. https://neon.fund/podcasts/inside-the-mind-of-amit-gupta-co-founder-yulu-and-inmobi/↩↩↩↩↩↩

  15. Tracxn, “Amit Gupta - 2026 Portfolio,” accessed April 2026. https://tracxn.com/d/people/amit-gupta/__C2QGNWbaRlYgPbSUM_MIcmVil5gFpvD6Vv8nG7KSPtE↩↩↩↩↩↩

  16. Razorpay Blog, “Funding Announcement (Series A and Seed),” October 27, 2015. https://razorpay.com/blog/series-a-funding-2/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  17. India Transport & Logistics News, “Vahak raises undisclosed amount in seed funding led by Leo Capital,” June 5, 2020. https://www.itln.in/vahak-raises-undisclosed-amount-in-seed-funding-led-by-leo-capital-logistics↩↩↩↩↩↩

  18. The SaaS News, “Factors.AI Raises $2 Million in Seed Round,” August 2021. https://www.thesaasnews.com/news/factors-ai-raises-2-million-in-seed-round↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  19. Inc42, “Sequoia Surge Startup Klub Raises $2 Mn Pre-Seed Funding,” January 2020. https://inc42.com/buzz/sequoia-surge-startup-klub-raises-2-mn-pre-seed-funding/↩↩↩↩↩↩

  20. Business Standard, “HealthifyMe raises second round of funding,” June 18, 2015. https://www.business-standard.com/article/specials/healthifyme-raises-second-round-of-funding-115061800806_1.html↩↩↩↩↩

  21. Founder Thesis, “Amit Gupta & Yulu: The Mind and Mobility Engine Behind India’s EV Revolution,” accessed April 2026. https://www.founderthesis.com/p/amit-gupta-and-yulu-the-mind-and↩