Pankaj Chaddah

Co-Founder, Shyft; Angel Investor

Reviewed Updated Jun 25, 2026

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Location Gurugram, India
Check Size Unknown
Last Verified Investment Helium (Angel) — Apr 15, 2026
Social LinkedIn
Stage Focus
pre-seed seed
Sector Focus
consumer d2c healthtech edtech media fintech

Background

Pankaj Chaddah is an Indian entrepreneur and angel investor based in Gurugram. He holds an engineering degree from IIT Delhi and began his career as an analyst at Bain & Company, where he met his future Zomato co-founder Deepinder Goyal 12.

In 2008, Chaddah and Goyal launched FoodieBay, an online directory of restaurant menus that was rebranded as Zomato in 2010 13. As co-founder, Chaddah helped lead the company’s expansion beyond restaurant listings into food delivery, online ordering, table reservations, and digital payments. Zomato reached unicorn status following Ant Financial’s $200M investment in 2018 1. Chaddah departed Zomato around 2018–2019 13.

After leaving Zomato, Chaddah co-founded Mindhouse in late 2019 with Pooja Khanna, a former Zomato chief of staff 4. Mindhouse began as an offline meditation and wellness studio and pivoted online during the pandemic. In November 2021, the company raised a $6M seed round led by Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, with participation from General Catalyst, Better Capital, Kwaish Capital, Anicut Capital, and the founders themselves 4. The company rebranded to Shyft in 2022, focusing on mental fitness and wellness 35.

Alongside operating Shyft, Chaddah has been an active angel investor since stepping back from Zomato. Aggregator profiles list 15–25 portfolio investments across consumer, D2C, healthtech, edtech, and media sectors in India and the United States 256. He is also a founding member of Plaksha University in Chandigarh and serves as an advisor to Akshaya Patra 1.

Stated Thesis

Chaddah has not published a formal investment thesis. Aggregator profiles describe his focus as pre-seed and seed stage companies in consumer, D2C, healthtech, edtech, and media sectors across India and the US 26. His self-description on social profiles emphasizes operator-investor status drawing on his Zomato and Shyft experience 7.

Inferred Thesis

Based on a small verified sample of approximately 5 cited portfolio entries; aggregators list 15–25 total investments, but only a subset are individually documented in primary press. Treat percentages as directional rather than statistical.

  • Stage: Predominantly angel, pre-seed, and seed rounds, with occasional follow-on participation at Series A–C (e.g., UrbanPiper Series B, Vahdam Series C) 268.
  • Sector concentration: Heavy lean toward consumer brands, D2C, and food/restaurant infrastructure — a natural extension of his Zomato operating background. Verified entries include UrbanPiper (restaurant SaaS), Vahdam (D2C tea), Fitso (fitness), Threado (community SaaS), MCaffeine (D2C personal care), Cumin (consumer), Helium (consumer), and Freshly (consumer) 268.
  • Geography: Primarily India-based founders, with some US exposure noted by aggregators 26.
  • Co-investor patterns: Frequently appears alongside other Indian operator-angels and seed funds — Albinder Dhindsa (Grofers/Blinkit), Better Capital, Fireside Ventures, Huddle Ventures, and General Catalyst (via Shyft) 24.
  • Notable outcomes: 1 unicorn (Infra.Market) and 2 exits (Fitso, Flatheads) reported by Tracxn 2.

Sample size is too small for precise sector percentages — the inferred read is “operator-angel writing pre-seed/seed checks into Indian consumer and food-adjacent SaaS.”

Portfolio

Company Year Stage Source
Fitso 2019 Seed 2
Mindhouse / Shyft (co-founder) 2021 Seed 4
UrbanPiper 2022 Series B 8
Vahdam ~2022 Series C 6
Threado 2022 Seed 6
Infra.Market ~2020 Series A+ 2
MCaffeine ~2019 (unverified) Angel/Seed (aggregator-attributed; no primary press names Chaddah in any of MCaffeine’s four disclosed rounds — 2018-03 Seed, 2019-06 Series A led by RPSG Ventures, 2020-09 Series B led by Amicus Capital, or 2022-03 Series C led by Paragon Partners) 2
Flatheads 2019-10 Angel (part of $500K aggregate angel round; Sahil Barua co-participant per YourStory launch coverage) 291011
Yoho 2024-09-24 Series A ($3.21M) 2
Freshly 2025-01-31 Seed ($465K) 2
Cumin 2026-01-05 Seed ($5M) 2
Helium 2026-04-15 Angel ($536K) 2

This table represents roughly 12 of ~25 reported investments. Several entries lack precise dates in primary press; Tracxn dates are used where available 2.

In Their Own Words

No independently verified verbatim quotes from Pankaj Chaddah could be sourced from the consulted articles. Press coverage paraphrases that his Zomato operating experience helped him scale Shyft faster and avoid early pitfalls 3, but the original quoted source could not be confirmed. Rather than fabricate a quote, this section will be expanded once a primary-source interview transcript (Forbes India, podcast, or LinkedIn long-form post) is located.

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials about Pankaj Chaddah as an angel investor were found in the consulted sources.

Connections

  • Co-Founder, Zomato (2008–2018/2019) — worked alongside Deepinder Goyal (CEO, Zomato) 13
  • Co-Founder, Shyft (formerly Mindhouse) (2019–present) — with Pooja Khanna, former Zomato chief of staff 4
  • Founding member, Plaksha University, Chandigarh 1
  • Advisor, Akshaya Patra 1
  • Former analyst, Bain & Company — where he met Deepinder Goyal 13
  • Frequent co-investors: Binny Bansal (Flipkart), General Catalyst, Better Capital, Fireside Ventures, Huddle Ventures, Albinder Dhindsa (Blinkit) 24

Sources

  1. “Who is Pankaj Chaddah, Zomato co-founder who left Rs 2,73,491 crore company,” News24 Online, accessed June 2026. https://news24online.com/business/who-is-pankaj-chaddah-zomato-co-founder-who-left-rs-273491-crore-company/719174/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  2. “Pankaj Chaddah — Portfolio & Founded Companies,” Tracxn, accessed June 2026. https://tracxn.com/d/people/pankaj-chaddah/__hH-0EHffimZKDnccMrNyl4aQx6vs23HTLkQFziTgoYA↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  3. “Pankaj Chaddah’s Shyft journey from Zomato’s kitchens to mental health wellness,” Storyboard18, accessed June 2026. https://www.storyboard18.com/brand-makers/pankaj-chaddahs-swyft-journey-from-zomatos-kitchens-to-mental-health-wellness-56136.htm↩↩↩↩↩↩

  4. “Zomato co-founder’s startup raises $6 mn seed round led by Flipkart founder,” Business Standard, November 19, 2021. https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/zomato-co-founder-s-startup-raises-6-mn-seed-round-led-by-flipkart-founder-121111900523_1.html↩↩↩↩↩↩

  5. “Pankaj Chaddah — Shyft Founder & Angel Investor,” Inc42, accessed June 2026. https://inc42.com/person/pankaj-chaddah/↩↩

  6. “List of Startups Funded by Pankaj Chaddah,” Razorpay Rize, accessed June 2026. https://razorpay.com/rize/investors-list/shyft↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  7. “Pankaj Chaddah — Shyft,” LinkedIn, accessed June 2026. https://in.linkedin.com/in/pankaj-chaddah↩

  8. “Food delivery rivals Swiggy and Zomato back UrbanPiper,” TechCrunch, April 17, 2022. https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/17/swiggy-and-zomato-food-delivery-rivals-in-india-back-urbanpiper-in-24-million-funding/↩↩↩

  9. “After testing the waters in fintech, MomoE founders set their sights on Rs 8,000 Cr footwear market with Flatheads,” YourStory, October 2019, accessed July 2026. Article names Chaddah and Sahil Barua (Delhivery co-founder) as prominent angels in the $500K angel round. https://yourstory.com/2019/10/fintech-momoe-founders-launch-flatheads-startup-shoes-brand↩

  10. “D2C online brand Flatheads raises USD 1 Mn in pre-series A funding round,” MyBigPlunge, September 16, 2021, accessed July 2026. Confirms Flatheads had raised ~USD 1.5M total since inception (prior ~USD 500K angel round). https://mybigplunge.com/startups/d2c-online-brand-flatheads-raises-usd-1-mn-in-pre-series-a-funding-round/↩

  11. “D2C: How Flatheads makes ridiculously comfortable shoes,” Startups Unplugged (Medium), accessed July 2026. Founder Ganesh Balakrishnan describes the initial angel round: “In 72 hours [the LinkedIn video] went viral. About 400–450 people pinged us saying they wanted to invest. Eventually, 40 people became angel investors in Flatheads.” https://startupsunplugged.medium.com/d2c-how-flatheads-makes-ridiculously-comfortable-shoes-d130327a6dba↩