Haptik founder Vaish handed the CEO seat to insider Jussawalla, who grew it 30%

Haptik, the Mumbai conversational AI platform founded in 2013 by Aakrit Vaish and Swapan Rajdev, was acquired by Reliance Jio in 2019 for over INR 200 crore. Vaish said that under Reliance's umbrella the company expanded from a $500,000 business to $35 million in annual recurring revenue in five years, while turning cash-flow positive. Its platform lets users handle tasks like travel bookings and food orders, and is used by Swiggy, Zepto and Paytm, among others.

In February 2025, Vaish revealed on X that he had stepped down as CEO the year before, handing the reins to longtime employee Ahshad Jussawalla after what he described as an extensive search that concluded the best candidate was already inside the company. 'Over this past year as incoming CEO, Ahshad has grown the business by 30% and successfully steered the company's roadmap to build for the Agentic world,' Vaish wrote, also crediting Reliance with helping turn the startup into 'a real company'.

The handover landed amid a wave of agentic AI adoption: Deloitte projected 25% of companies in the GenAI space would test agentic AI by 2025, rising to 50% by 2027, while startups such as Gallabox ($3.5 million raised) and Atomicwork ($25 million) built agent products and OpenAI released its Operator agent in India. Vaish stays on Haptik's board; Jussawalla joined Haptik in 2021 after roles at Wizly, Mobikon and BookMyShow.

Vaish says the business grew 30% under incoming CEO Jussawalla over the past year, with the roadmap steered to agentic AI (self-reported).

An inside candidate already running the business removed the transition risk an external hire would have carried.

The agentic AI shift demanded a roadmap change, and the person already steering it had delivered 30% growth.

Vaish handed over from a position of strength - a cash-flow-positive business - rather than under pressure.

Keeping the founder on the board preserved continuity while freeing day-to-day operations from a decade-long leader.

Founder successions go smoothly when the heir is homegrown, already proven in the seat, and the founder hands over while the business is healthy - not in a crisis.

Vaish remains on Haptik's board and teased 'big announcements in the near future'. Jussawalla, who previously was a business head at Wizly, Mobikon and BookMyShow, has led the company since the 2024 handover. Inc42 reported the change just as agentic AI adoption accelerates worldwide, with OpenAI's Operator launched in India and rivals such as Gallabox and Atomicwork raising funds for agent products.