Affle co-founder Anuj Kumar to step down on April 16

New Delhi: Affle 3i’s co-founder and director, Anuj Kumar, will transition from his executive and non-executive roles across the company and its subsidiaries, effective April 16, 2026.

The company is sharpening its leadership structure for its AI-led “10x growth plan” and strengthening India leadership with a new revenue head.

Affle said the decision is personal and Kumar will continue in his current role through FY2026 to ensure “a smooth and structured transition”, including FY2027 planning and an orderly handover. It added that Kumar will remain associated with the company as its largest individual shareholder and does not intend to pursue other executive roles.

As part of the leadership plan, Affle said India and emerging markets growth will continue to be led by Vipul Kedia, Chief Operating Officer for Emerging Markets, and that it has onboarded Gulrez Alam as Chief Revenue Officer for India and emerging markets.

Affle said developed markets will be increasingly anchored in North America under Sameer Sondhi, CEO of North America and Chief Strategic Investments Officer, while global rollout of AI-powered strategic initiatives will continue to be anchored by Viraj Sinh, Chief Strategic Initiatives Officer.

Commenting on the planned transition, Anuj Khanna Sohum, Chairperson, MD and CEO of Affle, said, “I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Kumar for his consistent contributions as our Co-founder since April 2006. Kumar’s long-term conviction in Affle's growth plan has inspired the recent investment that has made him our single largest individual shareholder in India as on date. He has also been instrumental in ensuring a smooth leadership transition for Sameer to lead our developed markets growth from North America. Our sharper anchoring on both developed markets and emerging markets will strengthen our global growth momentum and the disciplined execution of our organic and inorganic expansion plans.”

Kumar said, “It has been an honour and a privilege to be part of Affle’s remarkable growth journey over the past two decades. I am immensely proud of what we have built together as a team, creating something very meaningful, taking it public, and growing it globally from strength to strength thereafter. This has been a deeply considered and difficult personal decision, but one that will allow me more time to pursue other passions. A co-founder’s commitment is never-ending, and I remain deeply invested in Affle’s future as a long-term shareholder of the company. Our company has a stronger leadership team than ever before that continues to execute with high passion and long-term commitment. I am looking forward to a seamless transition, and I will be cheering and celebrating Affle’s 3i 10x growth journey ahead.”

Separately, Affle said it has been granted two new patents in India, which it said add to its tech IP portfolio and strengthen its conversion-driven CPCU model and AI-powered consumer platform stack.

One patent covers a method to enable user interaction with ads within podcasts using multi-modal voice and gesture inputs, analysing podcast content, ad data, real-time device signals and demographic and behavioural data to identify high-intent triggers and enable engagement.

The second patent relates to ad fraud detection and covers a framework for real-time identification and mitigation of fraudulent activity, using techniques such as “honeypots, zero-pixel, blurred, and non-human clickable items” to trap non-human engagements and an intelligence layer analysing user demographic and action-based behavioural data to flag suspicious activity.

Affle said it has 18 unique patents granted out of a total IP portfolio of 39 unique patents, with about 300 enforceable patent claims.