Sidharth Rao, co-founder and former CEO of Webchutney, one of the most successful digital advertising agencies in India, passed away on Friday due to a fatal cardiac arrest. Rao, who had launched marTech firm Punt Partners with co-founder Madhu Sudhan last year, was 43 years old and is survived by his parents and wife.
“It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our friend and founder, Sidharth Rao. He suffered a fatal cardiac arrest on April 21 at his home in Karjat. Sid’s sudden demise has left us all in shock, and we request everyone’s time to grieve the loss of our beloved friend, son, brother, husband and colleague. Sid’s family is especially thankful for all the condolences and messages of support during this time,” said Punt Partners in a statement.
Rao started Webchutney in 1999 when he was just 19 years old. In 2013, Webchutney was acquired by Dentsu Aegis Network but Rao stayed on to steer it as its CEO, going on to become head of the India unit of dentsuMB, the global creative network of the Japanese multinational media network in 2021.
Major recognition
Dentsu Webchutney won one of the biggest awards on the advertising stage when it walked away with the Agency of the Year honour at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in 2022. It got the honour for the work it did for Vice Media’s production ‘The Unfiltered History Tour’, a project that Rao had green lighted. However, he himself had quit Dentsu just a month before the recognition.
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In 2022, he co-founded Punt Partners, which is backed by prominent names from media, advertising and marketing sectors. The marketing technology venture raised its first round in December led by several angel investors. Its investors include Ashish Hemrajani, Deep Kalra, Kunal Shah, Santosh Desai and Rajan Navani.
Condolences poured in from various quarters on Saturday. Clevertap Co-Founder Anand Jain tweeted, “lost a very dear friend. go well @sidharthrao ..have no words how much he meant to me.”
Angel Investor and Business Strategist, Lloyd Mathias said, “Sidharth brought a digital first mindset into Indian advertising, at a time when mainstream agencies saw digital purely as an amplification medium for television and print creative. In that sense he was a true disruptor. He was dedicated, passionate and relentlessly challenged the status quo.”
Rao was himself an active angel investor. His investments included ScoopWhoop, VS Mani, MojoCare, LoanZen, Invideo and CoHo among others. He also wrote a book, ‘How I Almost Blew It’, highlighting the experiences of some of India’s leading entrepreneurs.
Published on April 22, 2023
