Deepinder’s Pivot, Amagi’s Muted Debut, and Pocket FM’s New Hire

On January 21, 2026, Eternal (formerly Zomato) announced what looked, on the surface, like a routine leadership reshuffle. Founder-CEO Deepinder Goyal would step down as chief executive, move into the role of Vice Chairman, and hand over the Group CEO position to Blinkit’s Albinder Dhindsa. But this was not a succession event in the traditional sense. It was a statement. A carefully constructed signal about how Indian tech companies are evolving - and what kind of founders will survive the next decade.

This wasn’t a founder being pushed out. It was a founder stepping sideways.

The backstory matters. Deepinder and Albinder’s relationship predates Zomato, Grofers, Blinkit, and all the capital that followed. They met at IIT Delhi, long before either had money, power, or market validation. Their bond was forged not in success, but in vulnerability - academic insecurity, near-failures, and existential moments that most founders never publicly acknowledge. When Grofers was on the brink in 2016-17, hemorrhaging cash and struggling to justify its pivot to dark stores, Deepinder didn’t act like a rational portfolio manager. He acted like a founder. He backed Albinder when the spreadsheets said no.

That bet became Blinkit. And Blinkit became Eternal’s crown jewel.

Today, Blinkit is not just a vertical - it is the company’s center of gravity. Its growth has outpaced food delivery. Its unit economics are cleaner. Its expansion is more predictable. And, perhaps most importantly, it has been built under Albinder’s leadership. Elevating him to Group CEO is not symbolic. It is strategic. Eternal is telling the market that quick commerce, not food delivery, is the future of the group.

But the deeper story isn’t about Blinkit. It’s about Deepinder.

For years, Zomato was a founder-centric company in the most literal sense. Senior leaders came and went. Co-founders exited. Deepinder always was in control. Power never truly diffused. Analysts often described this as the “founder moat problem”, a structure where everything runs through one person. It maximizes speed and clarity. It also concentrates risk.

Deepinder didn’t dismantle that structure under pressure. He dismantled it on his own terms.

Why Albinder? Because he isn’t a professional CEO. He’s a peer. A war-tested founder. Someone who has seen companies nearly die and rebuilt them anyway. This isn’t Google hiring Eric Schmidt. This is more like a wartime general handing command to another general - not a bureaucrat.

That distinction matters.

India’s tech ecosystem is entering its institutional phase. Regulators want professionalized boards. Public market investors want continuity. SEBI is increasingly skeptical of personality-driven governance. Eternal’s restructuring preempts that pressure. It signals maturity without surrendering founder culture.

Deepinder remains Vice Chairman. He isn’t exiting. He is repositioning.

And what he’s repositioning into is telling.

Longevity science. Brain health. Aerospace. Deep-tech moonshots that have no business being funded inside a listed consumer company. Deepinder is quietly becoming a founder-VC - deploying personal capital into frontier bets while leaving operational execution to someone he trusts.

In the old model, founders were expected to be everything: operator, visionary, manager, firefighter. That model breaks at scale. What Eternal is building instead is conglomerate governance, where vision and execution are no longer forced into the same body.

This move also sends shockwaves across the ecosystem.

Swiggy will now face questions about its own structure. Ola cannot escape the contrast. Founder centrality, once celebrated, is now a governance risk. Deepinder has shown that stepping back does not mean stepping away. It means evolving.

The founder-CEO era in Indian tech is giving way to something else: founders who build institutions, not empires. Founders who delegate without disappearing. Founders who are comfortable not being the bottleneck.

Eternal is becoming a conglomerate. And Deepinder Goyal is becoming an allocator of vision.

Let’s go through what else is happening in Indian startup world - Grab your simmering cup of StartupChai.in and unwind with our hand-brewed memes.

“Maybe I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times”: Deepinder Goyal Steps Down As Eternal Group CEO

Deepinder Goyal has stepped down as Group CEO of Eternal, with Albinder Dhindsa, currently at the helm of Blinkit, set to take over the role.

Goyal will continue on Eternal’s board as vice chairman, subject to shareholder approval, ensuring continuity at the governance level even as operational leadership changes hands. He said the move reflects his intent to pursue higher risk, experimental ideas that fall outside the mandate.

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“Ye Tune Kya Kiya”: Amagi Makes Muted Debut On Bourses, Shares List At 12% Discount

Amagi made a muted debut on the bourses, with its shares listing at ₹317 on the BSE, marking a 12.2% discount to the issue price of ₹361. On the NSE, the stock opened at ₹318, reflecting an 11.9% drop from the IPO price and signalling cautious investor sentiment at the open.

Despite the tepid listing, the debut is symbolically significant, as Amagi becomes the first new age tech company to tap public markets in 2026.

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“Aaiye Aapka Intezaar Tha”: Pocket FM hires former Meta AI scientist to build its own AI models for storytelling

Pocket FM has appointed Vasu Sharma, formerly with Meta’s AI research team, as its head of AI as it doubles down on building in house models.

The move marks a strategic shift away from off the shelf tools, which the company found inadequate for the scale, cadence, and narrative complexity of long form audio storytelling. By developing proprietary AI systems, Pocket FM is aiming to tightly fuse technology with creative production.

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“Jazba Kuch Kar Dikhane Ka”: Zepto, DPIIT shortlist 8 startups in first cohort of Zepto Nova innovation challenge

Zepto has announced the first cohort of eight startups under Zepto Nova, an innovation programme launched in partnership with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The initiative is aimed at integrating early stage Indian startups into Zepto’s operating ecosystem, offering them direct access to its hyperlocal quick commerce network.

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1. Enerzolve has raised $5.1 Mn in a funding round led by Jungle Ventures and Kai Capital, with participation from several startup founders. Founded by former Zetwerk executives, the company will use the capital to scale pilot manufacturing and certification.

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2. Arkahub has raised ₹18.3 Cr in a seed funding round led by Kae Capital, with participation from Sparrow Capital and Antler. The capital will be used to accelerate the rollout of Arkahub’s residential solar and home energy platform as it looks to scale rooftop solar adoption across households.

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3. Aerem has raised $15 Mn in a funding round led by SMBC Asia Rising Fund, the VC arm of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. The Mumbai based startup will deploy the capital to deepen its EPC and installer partner network as it scales financing solutions for solar installations.

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4. Ringg has raised $5.5 Mn in a funding round led by Arkam Ventures, with participation from Groww’s Founder Fund, Kunal Shah, White Venture Capital, and existing investor Capital2B. The capital will be used to push Ringg’s international expansion and scale engineering.

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5. Cumin Co has raised $5 Mn in a Pre Series A round led by Fireside Ventures, with participation from Huddle Ventures, Alteria Capital, Atrium Angels, and angel investors including Mokobara cofounders Sangeet Agrawal and Navin Parwal.

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6. Bolna has raised ₹57 Cr in a seed round led by General Catalyst, with participation from existing backers Y Combinator and Blume Ventures, alongside Orange Collective, Pioneer Fund, Transpose Capital, and Eight Capital.

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7. Sensesemi has raised ₹25 Cr in a funding round led by Piper Serica, with participation from LetsVenture Angel Fund, Sun Icon Ventures, MyAsiaVC, Whitepine Investments, and Jain Oncor. The capital will be used to tape out and validate Sensesemi’s first two edge AI test chips in 2026.

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8. PolyCycl has raised ₹26 Cr in a Series A round from Rainmatter to scale its chemical recycling technology for plastic waste. The capital will be used to roll out commercial projects with industrial partners, strengthen engineering and operations, and support long term licensing in India and global markets.

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