# Abhishek Nayak

> Abhishek Nayak is an Indian entrepreneur and the San Francisco-based CEO and co-founder of Appsmith, an open-source platform for building internal applications. A biological sciences graduate of BITS Pilani, he began founding companies directly after college, co-built cash-collection startup Gharpay and Clink, led product at Ezetap, ran Y Combinator-backed Bicycle AI, and worked as an entrepreneur in residence at Accel before starting Appsmith with Arpit Mohan and Nikhil Nandagopal in 2019. His career has repeatedly returned to the same operating problem: giving teams simpler ways to build the unglamorous software that keeps a business running.

- **Role:** CEO and Co-Founder at Appsmith
- **Organizations:** Appsmith, Accel, Bicycle AI, Ezetap, ClinkNow, Gharpay, Wise Mobile Technology Inc., Indian Youth Climate Network
- **Nationality:** Indian
- **Education:** Biological Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Winter 2017 batch (Bicycle AI), Y Combinator
- **Known for:** Co-founded Gharpay, a cash-collection and logistics startup later acquired by Delhivery., Built ClinkNow, which was acquired by Ezetap, then served as Ezetap's Director of Product., Led Bicycle AI through Y Combinator's Winter 2017 batch.

## Career timeline

- **2007** — Represented student entrepreneurship interests as a BITS Pilani panelist at the Fortune Global Forum.
- **2009** — Served as a youth delegate connected with the Indian Youth Climate Network at a UN climate conference.
- **2011** — Co-founded Gharpay with BITS Pilani classmate Arpit Mohan after graduation.
- **2014** — Gharpay was acquired by Delhivery; Nayak subsequently led product at Ezetap after ClinkNow was acquired.
- **2015-2018** — Co-founded and led Bicycle AI, a customer-support automation company in Y Combinator's Winter 2017 batch.
- **2018-2019** — Worked as an entrepreneur in residence at Accel.
- **2019** — Co-founded Appsmith with Arpit Mohan and Nikhil Nandagopal.
- **2020** — Appsmith's public relaunch reached users in about 30 countries in its first week.
- **2022** — Appsmith raised a $41 million Series B led by Insight Partners, bringing disclosed total funding to $51.5 million.
- **2024** — Appsmith reported more than 120,000 apps published during its review of 2023.
- **2025** — Presented Appsmith's work on practical AI agents for business workflows.
- **2026** — Publicly discussed running Appsmith and Kite, an agentic website-management product, and tested an automated personal-site concept.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Gharpay, a cash-collection and logistics startup later acquired by Delhivery.
- Built ClinkNow, which was acquired by Ezetap, then served as Ezetap's Director of Product.
- Led Bicycle AI through Y Combinator's Winter 2017 batch.
- Co-founded Appsmith as an open-source, developer-focused internal application platform.
- Raised a $41 million Series B for Appsmith in 2022, with disclosed total funding reaching $51.5 million.
- Appsmith reported more than 120,000 published apps and 30,000 GitHub stars in its 2023 review.

## Latest updates

- **2026-03** — Said publicly that he runs Appsmith and Kite, and tested interest in a Kite feature that could turn a LinkedIn profile into an automatically maintained personal website.
- **2025-04** — Joined Appsmith's AI Agents at Work launch programming, focused on agents for support, sales and people operations.
- **2025-02** — Published Appsmith commentary on low-code trends, including the growing role of AI.
- **2024-04** — Opened Appsmith BUILD with a discussion of low-code, AI and the platform's growth.

## Links

- Website: https://www.appsmith.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhisheknayak
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/abhishek_n
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@appsmith

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/abhishek-nayak
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-10