SoftBank-backed Meesho names Debdoot Mukherjee chief data scientist

The double gold medallist from IIT Delhi Mukherjee has held leadership roles at ShareChat, Hike and Myntra

Meesho, a fast-growing internet commerce company, has appointed Debdoot Mukherjee as Chief Data Scientist. He will oversee the company’s efforts to make every pillar of the e-commerce marketplace smarter and more efficient with the use of AI (artificial intelligence).

Mukherjee joins  SoftBank-backed Meesho with over 14 years of experience in developing large scale recommender systems, under his belt. Previously, he held multiple leadership roles at companies like ShareChat, Hike and Myntra. Notably, under Mukherjee’s leadership, his team at ShareChat and Moj created a state of the art feed ranking system and developed AI models that significantly improved user retention and engagement. He is a double gold medalist from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi.

“I am delighted to welcome Debdoot(Mukherjee) as the Head of Meesho’s highly energetic AI team,” said Sanjeev Barnwal, founder and CTO, Meesho. “His leadership and deep understanding of the field will help us meet the growing demands of our users, drive innovation and accelerate our sellers’ success.”

Mukherjee will lead the current 30 member strong AI team at Meesho and strengthen it by 3x by the end of the year. A tech-first company, Meesho leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to build effective recommendation algorithms and optimize logistics for over 5 lakh sellers on the platform. Machine learning models help fuel discoverability of a massive catalog of products through personalized storefronts and ensure smooth delivery of orders, thereby enhancing customer experience. In 2021, Meesho witnessed 17x growth in direct-to-platform customers and about 1600 per cent growth in direct to platform (customer) orders YoY.

“I join Meesho feeling deeply connected with their mission of democratizing internet commerce for everyone in India. AI can play a central role in creating an efficient and healthy marketplace, which is trusted and loved by the customers and also ensures fairness and growth to all the sellers,” said Debdoot Mukherjee. “I believe my past experiences will further help in building a world class AI team and machinery to deliver on Meesho’s bold ambition of building a single shopping destination for the next billion users in India.”

With this latest addition, Meesho has further strengthened its leadership team having recently appointed multiple leaders across key verticals. These include Harsh Chaudhary, CXO, Monetisation, Sourabh Pandey, Head, Fulfillment & Experience and L N Swaminathan, Head, Seller Growth.