Varun Khare is the Founder and CEO of thumpN, India's first AI-native live entertainment discovery and ticketing platform, built to help fans find personalised live experiences through a conversational interface.

With over 17 years in India's live events industry, Varun rose through Fountainhead MKTG and Oranjuice Entertainment before joining Paytm Insider, where he served as Business Head of Live Entertainment and later as COO.

Varun led Paytm Insider to over 100% GMV growth annually since 2022 and helped quadruple revenues, expanding the platform to over 170 cities across India.

At thumpN, Varun has assembled a team of former Paytm Insider leaders and secured a $3.75M Pre-Seed round backed by Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm CFO Madhur Deora, and artists Arijit Singh, Sunidhi Chauhan, and Badshah.

thumpN's AI agent Shadow targets a market of over 40,000 live events across 319 Indian cities annually, competing in a live entertainment sector that grew 44% year-on-year in 2025, with plans to capture 10% market share.