Former PayPal India exec Parag Gupta joins beauty tech platform Kult as Chief Financial Officer

Kult, an AI and personalisation beauty platform pitched at India’s Gen-Z and Millennial consumers, has announced the appointment of Parag Gupta as Chief Financial Officer.

Gupta has served as Group CFO at College Dekho and its group of companies. He directed financial operations and led market entry strategy for PayPal India, served as India CFO for AT&T, and Group CFO for Nimbuzz BVI.

His career also includes managing large scale offshore resources and multi-phase transitions of accounting and collections for international organisations including Washington Mutual Bank and Dell International Services.

"Parag's experience with MNCs and startups is a unique combination," says Karishma Singh, Founder and CEO at Kult E-Commerce, which recently closed a $20 million Series A funding round.

"MNC experience brings quality benchmarks and startup experience brings the dynamism. Parag comes at a time when the company is closing large inventory financing with banks and institutional lenders. Thus having a CFO as a financial steward was the need of the hour."

"The beauty category has immense potential. Even though there are large players, the market is still at a very nascent stage," says Gupta. "Kult's approach through personalisation and AI will have a niche carved out for itself, and I am sure it will emerge as a market leader eventually. The team is young and their enthusiasm is commendable. I am very excited and looking forward to working as a team and taking Kult to new heights."

RTIH AI in Retail Awards

RTIH proudly presents the first edition of its AI in Retail Awards, sponsored by 3D Cloud and EdTech Innovation Hub.

This is now open for entries. Deadline for submissions is Friday, 5th December. It’s free to enter and you can do so across multiple categories.

Check out categories and entry forms here.

As we witness a digital transformation revolution across all channels, AI tools are reshaping the omnichannel game, from personalising customer experiences to optimising inventory, uncovering insights into consumer behaviour, and enhancing the human element of retailers' businesses.

With 2025 set to be the year when AI and especially gen AI shake off the ‘heavily hyped’ tag and become embedded in retail business processes, our newly launched awards celebrate global technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world and the resulting benefits for retailers, shoppers and employees.

Our 2025 winners will be those companies who not only recognise the potential of AI, but also make it usable in everyday work - resulting in more efficiency and innovation in all areas.

Winners will be announced at an evening event at The Barbican in Central London on Thursday, 29th January. This will kick off with a drinks reception in the stunning Conservatory, followed by a three course meal, and awards ceremony in the Garden Room.