Recently, one of the leading Online brokerage firms Upstox has roped in Thippesha Dyamappa, former director of software development and international retail at Amazon, as its chief technology officer (CTO).

The high-profile appointment is targeted to help Upstox, backed by industrialist Ratan Tata and private equity firm Tiger Global, foray into global markets. In his new role, Thippesha will be tasked to upgrade Upstox’s technology stack as the Indian stock market is set for a few mega-initial public offerings in the coming months including those of state-owned behemoth Life Insurance Corporation of India and fintech firm Paytm.

The highly cut-throat online stockbroking segment has seen new-age startups such as Zerodha, Upstox, Groww, and Paytm Money emerge on the scene as many first-time traders took to stock trading amid the pandemic lockdown, buoyed by Indian stock exchanges’ bull run attached with low-interest rates.

Formerly called RKSV Securities, Upstox was founded in 2008 as a proprietary trading firm. It entered the retail brokerage space in 2012. The appointment of Thippesha comes just months after Upstox saw hackers breach its systems, purportedly compromising the data of 2.5 million customers. The startup at the time had said it had appointed an external cybersecurity firm to investigate the issue and shore up security protocols.

As per current disclosures by Upstox, it has 4 million customers. More than 80 percent of them are in the age group of 18–36 years and around 70 percent are first-time investors.