Fashinza co-founder Pawan Gupta has formally exited the Gurugram-based fashion supply chain startup, concluding a gradual transition that began last year. Gupta, who co-founded the company with Abhishek Sharma in 2020 and served as CEO, stepped back from day-to-day operations in 2025 and completed his departure in December.
With Gupta’s exit, Abhishek Sharma remains the sole founder and continues as chief executive. Fashinza gained early traction by offering technology-led solutions to help fashion brands manage sourcing, production, and vendor relationships, though its operating model has evolved over time as market conditions shifted.
Company position on leadership change
The company described Gupta’s departure as amicable and driven by personal career priorities. Sharma said Gupta is keen to pursue opportunities in the fast-growing artificial intelligence ecosystem and emphasised that the move was unrelated to Fashinza’s business performance.
Separately, people familiar with the matter indicated that strategic realignments may also have influenced the decision. According to these sources, the company’s revenue is understood to have declined from about ₹33 crore in FY22 to roughly ₹6 crore in FY25, alongside a pivot from a predominantly tech-first approach to a more manufacturing-led model. Those shifts may have diverged from Gupta’s product and technology interests.
Pawan Gupta’s next steps in AI
Post-exit, Gupta is on a sabbatical while evaluating ideas in AI. He has been engaging with industry leaders and travelling to San Francisco to assess emerging trends and potential collaborations.
He is exploring an India-based AI venture aimed at global markets, particularly the United States, with potential applications across healthcare, logistics, marketing, and e-commerce. While plans are still being finalised, the focus is expected to be on enterprise-grade solutions addressing efficiency, automation, and data-driven decision-making.
Separate note: Betterhalf’s Pawan Gupta on startup discipline
In an unrelated development, another entrepreneur with the same name—Pawan Gupta, co-founder and CEO of AI-led matrimony platform Betterhalf—shared learnings from the company’s 2022 challenges. He said the startup faced high cash burn and negative contribution margins, prompting a six-month effort to streamline marketing spends and strengthen unit economics.
He also underscored the importance of user privacy in consumer internet businesses and advised founders to solve problems they understand deeply while staying focused on long-term execution.
