boAt appoints Vivek Gambhir as Chairman, Co-Founder Sameer Mehta as CEO

In his new role, Vivek Gambhir will continue to guide the leadership team on matters of strategy, organizational development & culture and future growth roadmap.

India’s No.1 wearables (earwear and smartwatches) company announced on Thursday that the Board of Directors has appointed Vivek Gambhir as Chairman of the company. Sameer Mehta, co-founder, will take on the role of CEO and Managing Director.

Vivek Gambhir, in his new role as Chairman, will continue to guide the leadership team on matters of strategy, organizational development & culture and future growth roadmap.

Vivek Gambhir commented: “I am very grateful to Sameer and Aman for the opportunity to partner with them to help make boAt better and stronger. Over the last several years, with the support of our top-notch management team which we have built together, we have taken tremendous strides to strengthen the foundations of the company. We are now the #2 company globally in the wearables (earwear and smartwatches) space in addition to being a leading brand in multiple categories in India. It is a matter of great pride that a brand born in India is now among the top brands in the world. And I am excited about the next phase of boAt, under the co-founders’ visionary leadership.

I have reflected a lot on what I want to do next that will give me greater meaning and fulfilment and further enable me to leverage my strengths in strategy and organisational building. Along with working closely with Aman & Sameer and the Board to guide the next phase of the company’s development, I look forward to engaging in a portfolio of activities on the business and social development front to help multiple organisations scale up, build their teams, and accelerate their value creation agendas.

Sameer Mehta, co-founder, remarked: “We have scaled up tremendously over the last several years and it has been amazing to have Vivek as a valued partner in our growth journey. In early 2021, we had approached Vivek to join and guide us in our scaling up journey and prepare us to think and act like a bigger company rather than as a start-up. The past several years has been a period of significant learning and growth with Aman and I working closely with Vivek to run the company.

Together, we have launched the smart watches category establishing a leading position, broadened our presence across multiple channels, acquired KaHa (a world-class wearables technology platform), made significant strides in our Make-in-India initiative (producing 15M+ units locally), implemented an ERP (SAP), brought on board top-notch management talent and experienced board members, and grown revenues over 5x in the past 3 years. In doing so, we have developed the confidence and greater conviction that we can truly create a consumer tech powerhouse and a domestic champion admired globally, with leadership positions across multiple categories, countries, and channels, thus creating tremendous shareholder value.

Through our strong relationship with Vivek and working alongside him, we have also learned a lot about our strengths and what we enjoy doing. We remain passionate about building things and thrive by being deeply operationally involved, like we have been since the brand’s inception six years ago. We are deeply grateful to Vivek for his partnership, inspirational leadership, strong values, and friendship. And we look forward to his continued support as we chart the next phase of our transformation.”

Aman Gupta, co-founder, added: “We are incredibly thankful to Vivek for his friendship and partnership over the last several years. We have learnt a lot from his inspirational leadership, strong sense of values and strategic thinking. boAt today is in a much stronger position, and we firmly believe that our best days are ahead of us.”