ClearTax finds its first CTO in former MedLife exec

ClearTax, a software provider for goods and services tax (GST) compliance, income tax compliance and investment-related products, on Tuesday appointed its first chief technology officer. 

In his latest role, former MedLife CTO Paranth Thiruvengadam will spearhead strategic technology initiatives of ClearTax to simplify taxation and finances for Indians, as per a statement.

Thiruvengadam has previously worked in companies such as Yahoo!, Walmart Labs, IBM Labs, and Verizon.

“Paranth is a well-rounded technology leader and has led his past organizations to scale. I loved my interactions with Paranth and was impressed by his passion for technology,” ClearTax founder and CEO Archit Gupta said.

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At ClearTax, Thiruvengadam will lead the efforts to scale the current technology team and focus on the innovation in fintech SaaS space via machine learning, artificial intelligence and data science led initiatives, the statement said. He will also lead the technology efforts for ClearTax’s foray into the financial services space, it said.

ClearTax’s platform currently provides financial services including GST compliance, tax filing, TaxCloud, TDS returns, mutual fund investments, and chartered accountancy as well as legal services.

It claims to have served over 5 million taxpayers along with 6,00,000 businesses so far. 

In August 2019, it launched an e-invoicing solution to help businesses with Invoice Reference Number (IRN) generation and e-invoice management. 

Recently, the company announced its plans to hire over 150 employees. 

It also bought two companies in the past couple of years. In March 2020, the Y Combinator-backed firm acquired asset management platform Karvy’s goods and services tax (GST) filing business. In October 2019, it bought audio streaming platform Dose to build mobile products, including accounting, analytics and governance platforms, for its medium and small enterprise customers.

The company last raised funds in a $54.2 million round from Hong Kong based Composite Capital in October 2018. Sequoia and Elevation Capital -- previously SAIF Partners India -- are among the early investors in the company.