Facebook appoints former Snapdeal CPO Anand Chandrasekaran for its Messenger platform

NEW DELHI: Social networking giant has appointed former chief product officer at Snapdeal and Bharti Airtel, Anand Chandrasekaran for its Messenger platform. In a global role, Chandrasekaran will be working out of the Silicon Valley headquarters of the company and will help develop strategies and partnerships for the platform that already boasts of a billion users globally.

In a Facebook post, Chandrasekaran wrote, “I am super excited to share that building on the learning and experiences - I am joining Facebook to work on Facebook Messenger platform. Really looking forward to working with Ime, David, Stan, John and the team to listen and learn and help build on the momentum.”

While Ime Archibong is director, Strategic Partnerships at Facebook, David Marcus is head of messenger, Stan Chudnovsky is head of product for Messaging and John Lagerling is VP Business Development, Mobile and Product Partnerships at Facebook. “Core to every major platform I've worked on is a belief that technology should help level the playing field for all - something that is at the heart of Facebook and Messenger,” added Chandrasekaran in his post. Speaking to told ET that he can’t divulge more details about his role at the moment.

He quit Snapdeal in May earlier this year, having spent a little over 12 months at the SoftBank backed online marketplace. Prior to joining Snapdeal, he was the chief product officer at domestic telecom giant Bharti Airtel. Earlier, he was at Yahoo, where he held served as senior director for search and mobile. Since May, Chandrasekaran has very actively engaged with the Indian start-up ecosystem. He has made between 10-12 investments in the current calendar year with a around 20 investments in private companies till date. Some of the firms that he has invested in include Bengaluru-based peer-to-peer rentals venture NoBroker Technologies Solutions, omnichannel lingerie retailer Buttercups Intimates and education technology firm Makkajai.

He has also invested in Truce, MagicX, Lucideus, Loan-Circle, Lernr and Rupeek. ““Going native” and re-connecting with the country you grew up in is something I didn't imagine I would get to do, let alone witnessing the entrepreneurial energy that's driving India forward. I saw first hand how it became cool to build code and products that solve problems - the heart of what makes the Valley and other ecosystems what it is,” he wrote in his long and candid Facebook post.

Chandrasekaran holds a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and a B.S. in Communications Engineering from PSG College of Technology, India.