Ajay Kavan Joins KKR as a Senior Advisor in Europe
21.6.2021 10:00:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release
KKR, a leading global investment firm, today announces the appointment of Ajay Kavan as a Senior Advisor in Europe, effective immediately. Based in London, Mr. Kavan will support KKR’s pan-European investment activities in technology and digitally-enabled businesses and will advise KKR’s portfolio companies. In particular, he will focus on the consumer internet sector in eCommerce and direct-to-consumer offers, as well as companies undergoing major digital transformation programmes.
Ajay most recently served as CEO of Matches Fashion, where he supported the business through the impact of the pandemic, strengthened the leadership team and improved customer experience, technology and operational performance. Prior to joining Matches he spent nine years in senior roles at Amazon including VP International Special Projects, VP Amazon Fresh International and VP UK Consumables. He was responsible for launching Amazon Fresh across Europe and Asia, developing strategic partnerships with retailers (including Morrisons in the UK), developing its international physical stores, led Amazon’s subscription businesses across the EU and scaled Amazon businesses across multiple categories. Ajay has over 20 years of online experience and prior to Amazon, he led the launch of the online channels and multi-channel capabilities for three different retail businesses. Previous roles included Marketing and Strategy and Multi-channel Director roles within Home Retail Group plc and Kingfisher plc. Ajay is also the Vice Chair of In Kind Direct, a UK charity that distributes consumer goods to charitable organisations globally.
KKR’s Senior Advisors bring leadership skills, knowledge-sharing and deep industry expertise. They help drive value creation by providing advice and best practice to KKR’s investment teams and the executives, entrepreneurs and management teams of its portfolio companies. Mr. Kavan’s appointment follows that of TMT Senior Advisors Diego Piacentini in 2019, and Adam Warby in 2020.
Tim Franks, Partner and Head of EMEA Consumer & Retail at KKR, Jean-Pierre Saad, Partner and Head of EMEA Technology at KKR, and Philipp Schaelli, Principal in EMEA Private Equity at KKR, said: “Ajay will be a fantastic resource for our executives and our portfolio company management teams, bringing decades of experience in digital transformation, e-commerce and direct-to-consumer product development. He joins at an exciting time for KKR’s technology investment platform in Europe, with digitalisation a critical part of every business’ strategy and operational agenda.”
Ajay Kavan said: “KKR builds strong relationships with founders and management teams and has a track record of supporting them to deliver exceptional value creation. KKR is deeply committed to continuing to build its technology platform and I’m really excited to work with the KKR team and with leaders in their portfolio companies.”
KKR has invested over $25bn in tech companies in the past ten years across over 140 investments. Since the start of 2020, KKR has made over 20 tech investments globally, investing over $5bn in equity. Major recent EMEA technology investments include Cegid, Exact, Devoteam and Zwift.
--ends--
About KKR
KKR is a leading global investment firm that offers alternative asset management and capital markets and insurance solutions. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people and supporting growth in its portfolio companies and communities. KKR sponsors investment funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets and has strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR’s insurance subsidiaries offer retirement, life and reinsurance products under the management of The Global Atlantic Financial Group. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds and insurance subsidiaries. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210621005048/en/
Contact information
Media Contact: International
Alastair Elwen / Sophia Johnston
Finsbury Glover Hering
Telephone: +44 20 7251 3801
Email: kkr@fgh.com
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Grindr for Equality Commits to Connecting 10M to HIV Prevention by 202827.7.2026 17:31:00 EEST | Press release
Today at the 2026 International AIDS Conference, Grindr for Equality committed to connecting ten million LGBTQ+ people to HIV prevention by 2028, leveraging its platform reach to advance the global effort to end HIV by 2030. The commitment is rooted in Closing the Gap, a new Grindr for Equality report drawing on survey data from Grindr users across ten countries. The central finding is consistent across countries: people know about PrEP but they are not taking it. The barrier is access and the funding that existed to address it is disappearing. "Connecting people is what Grindr does at a scale and in communities that traditional public health systems don't effectively reach," said George Arison, CEO and Chairman of Grindr (NYSE: GRND). "The global HIV response is losing critical funding at the exact moment we should be accelerating to end HIV by 2030. Grindr has the reach and the responsibility to help close that access gap -- and we are proud to step up." Fifteen million people use Gr
InterSystems Launches Data Studio AI Assistant to Accelerate Enterprise Data Exploration and Insights27.7.2026 17:00:00 EEST | Press release
InterSystems, a creative data technology provider powering some of the world's most important applications, today announced the general availability of InterSystems Data Studio™ AI Assistant, a new generative AI-powered extension for InterSystems Data Studio that helps organizations more easily understand, navigate, query, and visualize data through natural language interactions. As organizations move from AI experimentation to production deployments, many are discovering that the greatest challenge is not the AI model itself, but providing AI systems with access to trusted, current, and business-ready information. Enterprise data is often fragmented across applications, databases, cloud services, files, data warehouses, and departmental silos, making it difficult for users and AI systems to generate reliable insights. “Organizations are increasingly looking for ways to turn their data into actionable intelligence without adding complexity,” said Scott Gnau, Senior Vice President, Data
PMI U.S. Opens $1.2 Billion Aurora Campus, Strengthening U.S. Manufacturing and Export Capabilities27.7.2026 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
Philip Morris International Inc.’s (PMI) (NYSE: PM) U.S. businesses (PMI U.S.) today celebrated the opening of its Aurora, Colorado manufacturing campus, a landmark investment representing total capital expenditures of $1.2 billion from 2024-2028. The campus expands the company’s domestic manufacturing capabilities, strengthens supply chain resilience, and positions Aurora as a strategic production and export hub supporting future growth. The site began commercial production in July 2026 and produces ZYN nicotine pouches, joining PMI U.S.’s growing modern nicotine manufacturing network, which includes operations in Owensboro, Kentucky, and Wilson, North Carolina. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260727514086/en/ PMI U.S. Opens $1.2 Billion Aurora Campus, Strengthening U.S. Manufacturing and Export Capabilities Situated on a 148-acre site, the approximately 780,000-square-foot campus is PMI’s first greenfield ma
Tecnotree Strengthens LATAM Growth with New Digital Transformation Contracts Worth USD 8.8 Million27.7.2026 14:20:00 EEST | Press release
Tecnotree, a global leader in AI-native Digital Business Support Systems (BSS) and digital platform solutions, today announced it has secured new digital transformation contracts across Latin America with a combined value of USD 8.8 million, reinforcing the company’s continued commercial momentum and expanding its presence across one of its key strategic growth markets. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260727931342/en/ Tecnotree Strengthens LATAM Growth with New Digital Transformation Contracts Worth USD 8.8 Million Across the engagements, Tecnotree will deploy its AI-native digital platform and B2B Marketplace for enterprises to simplify customer and business operations through intelligent digital engagement, real-time monetization, digital commerce and partner ecosystem management and AI driven marketing and experience management. By providing a unified digital foundation, the platform enables communications
Pure Lithium Corporation Appoints Mercedes-Benz Battery Veteran Dr. Tobias Glossmann as Chief Product Officer27.7.2026 14:00:00 EEST | Press release
Pure Lithium Corporation, a vertically integrated next-generation lithium metal battery company and developer of the patented Brine to Battery™ technology, today announced the appointment of Dr. Tobias Glossmann as Chief Product Officer. In this role, Dr. Glossmann will lead product and technology strategy, guiding the translation of Pure Lithium’s battery science into engineered products and directing the company’s product engineering efforts. Dr. Glossmann joins Pure Lithium after a 25-year career across Mercedes-Benz companies, most recently serving as Principal Systems Engineer at Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America. His work spanned advanced battery technology development, from materials through complete battery systems, and he held companywide responsibility for high voltage safety. His career began in 2001 with battery systems development at DaimlerChrysler in Ulm, Germany, and later in Michigan, giving him more than two decades of experience across cell chemistry
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom