Freshworks India head Karthik Rajaram quits, Joins Elastic India as General Manager

Karthik Rajaram, the country head of SaaS firm Freshworks in India, has announced his departure from the company. After resigning in March, Rajaram joined Elastic, a software firm, as the general manager of its India operations. 

In his new role, he will serve as Elastic India's area vice president and general manager. Rajaram's transition marks another high-profile exit from the Nasdaq-listed SaaS firm Freshworks.

Who is Karthik Rajaram? 

Rajaram started working at Freshworks in 2017 as the senior director of global sales development and has had a great career in tech and sales. He has also worked at Akamai Technologies, iNautix Technologies, Salesforce, and Microsoft. 

"As I embark on a new chapter after nearly 6.5 enriching years at Freshworks, I'm filled with gratitude for the incredible journey and the remarkable people who have been a part of it," Rajaram wrote on LinkedIn, announcing his departure.

Freshworks' executive shuffle

Freshworks has seen several top-level changes recently, with Rajaram's departure being the latest. The company's chief revenue officer, Pradeep Rathinam, left just a month ago, and there have been several key appointments, including Mika Yamamoto as the chief customer and marketing officer and Johanna Jackman as the new Chief People Officer. 

Elastic welcomes Rajaram

“We are delighted to welcome Karthik to our team. His background in building scale in India, combined with his strategic acumen and customer-centric approach, directly aligns with our aim to rapidly grow Elastic in this important market,” said Barrie Sheers, vice president of Asia Pacific and Japan, Elastic.

“Karthik’s extensive global experience and local expertise will position us to capitalize on our significant market opportunity and help customers reap the benefits of search-powered AI, to safely grow their business through innovation and operational efficiency," Sheers said.

“I am thrilled to join Elastic at such an exciting time in the company’s journey. Elastic’s innovative efforts to create leading search-powered solutions across multiple market segments, including search, security, and observability, can truly empower organizations to harness search-powered AI like never before,” said Rajaram.

Focused on driving growth in the Indian market 

Rajaram is set to drive Elastic's growth in India, focusing on the adoption of Elasticsearch to harness search-powered AI. His extensive experience and understanding of the market are seen as pivotal in advancing Elastic’s mission.

“We have a huge opportunity to drive momentum in the market, especially around generative AI, and I am committed to helping our customers in this region unlock new opportunities and gain efficiencies through the adoption of the Elasticsearch platform. I look forward to driving Elastic’s growth objectives and delivering substantial value to our customers,” he added.