Anthropic strengthens India team, appoints Sangeeta Bavi to lead startups

Anthropic has roped in Sangeeta Bavi as head of digital natives, startups and growth for India, the latest in a string of senior hires by the AI company in the country, one of its major markets.

In her new role, Bavi will lead Anthropic's efforts to drive adoption of Claude among Indian startups and mid-market companies.

Announcing the move in a post on LinkedIn, Bavi pointed to her long ties with the founder community. "Founders have always held a special place in (my heart)," she wrote. "Their ambition, resilience and belief that they can change the world have taught me more than any other form of learning. That’s why joining Anthropic as Head of Digital Natives, Startups & Growth, India feels deeply meaningful."



Before this, Bavi served as chief operating officer at YourStory Media, where she led operational transformation and revenue diversification initiatives. She also had a stint as director of startup business at Microsoft, where she built the company's startup business in India from scratch.

Anthropic has been ramping up its India operations. India is already the company's second-largest market for Claude, accounting for around 7.2% of global usage. The Claude maker is set to open its first office in Bengaluru, which will serve as its primary base to build local teams and scale enterprise adoption.

In January, Anthropic named Irina Ghose, former Microsoft India MD, to lead the country's operations ahead of the Bengaluru outpost opening. In April, the company appointed Amlan Mohanty, a former Google policy lead, to head India policy and external affairs.