Head of Google's Next Billion Users Caesar Sengupta quits after 15 years

Sengupta is currently the vice president and general manager, payments and NBU initiative at Google

Google’s Next Billion Users head Caesar Sengupta has quit the technology giant after nearly 15 years, he said in a tweet and LinkedIn post on Monday.

Sengupta is likely going to build his own venture. Recalling his interview with Google before joining the firm, Sengupta said in the LinkedIn post, titled “Thank you Google...”, “I had walked into the interview thinking I would spend only a few years learning how to build consumer products and then go start a company. Little did I know that I would fall in love with the people, the culture and the incredible opportunity and end up staying ~15 years. But it’s time now for me to venture out and start on a new mission.”

Sengupta’s last day at Google will be April 30.

He added that though he hasn’t decided what he will do next he was “uncomfortably excited about the future”.

He worked on the ChromeOS, NBU initiative, Google Pay, payments platform and Google Finance— all important business lines and growth areas for Google— and thanked the teams in his post.

Based in Singapore, Sengupta also led Google’s investments in Indonesia’s multi-service platform GoJek and India-based Glance.

He is currently the vice president and general manager, payments and NBU initiative at Google.

"After 15 years with Google, Caesar Sengupta has made a personal decision to leave the company and start something entrepreneurial outside of Google. Through his time at Google, Caesar has played a key role in starting, building and leading initiatives such as ChromeOS, Next Billion Users and Google Pay. We are excited to see what he builds next and wish him the best in his new journey,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement.

Sengupta joined Google right after his MBA at The Wharton School, according to his LinkedIn profile. He completed his Masters in Science with distinction in research, Computer Science, at Stanford University, before his MBA.

“As I embark on this next chapter of my life, I am incredibly grateful to this wonderful company and our leadership, especially Sundar, who took a bet on me, a novice PM, a decade and a half back, sponsored me, gave me the opportunity to learn, grow, make mistakes and build deep friendships that I will cherish forever,” he said in his post.

Affable and approachable, Sengupta has been a key player in Google’s multiple initiatives in India. Starting from Google’s local language and vernacular initiative, Railwire project with Indian railways, to the most recent and possibly most important plan of launching payments Google Pay and online marketplace in India, Sengupta has been instrumental in it all