Sidharth Rao, founder of digital ad agency Webchutney and Punt Partners, dies

Sidharth Rao, the founder of one of India’s first digital advertising agencies Webchutney, and founding partner of marketing technology firm Punt Partners, died on Friday evening. Rao is survived by his wife and parents.

He launched Webchutney in 1999, which was acquired by the Japanese multinational media network Dentsu in 2013. While he continued to head Webchutney, it was in 2021 when Rao was appointed as head of the India unit of dentsuMB, the restructured global creative network of the company.

Rao’s agency won the biggest awards at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in 2022 for Vice Media’s production titled The Unfiltered History Tour.

Last year, he stepped down from his role at dentsuMB and joined hands with serial entrepreneur Madhu Sudan, to launch Punt Partners.

Many within the advertising and investor community took to social media to express their grief on his death.

“Absolutely shocked to hear of Sidharth Rao’s passing. A good friend and fellow traveller. Shine on you crazy diamond,” said angel investor Mahesh Murthy.

“Lost a very dear friend. go well, Sidharth Rao. Have no words how much he meant to me,” tweeted Clevertap founder Anand Jain.

Rao and Sudan believed there is a $100-billion opportunity in the MarTech space that’s not being correctly addressed at this moment in time — an industry whose incumbents are either IT services firms, handicapped without complete marketing context, or traditional advertising networks, who’re currently playing catch up through inorganic buy-out strategies.

“Digital advertising surpassing TV spending across the world is the end of an era. But it’s also the beginning of a complex and constantly changing one, with the mar-tech landscape gaining significance. I do believe that, given the complexity that brands face, we’re about to see a giant wave of large-scale MarTech service providers built out of India. And with Punt, we want to get a serious head start,” Rao had told ET last year after the launch.

An angel investor for about a decade, Rao had backed the likes of ScoopWhoop, Mojocare, and Pepper Content.

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