Puneet Gupta Wiki, Age, Wife, Family, Biography & More

Puneet Gupta is an Indian Businessman. He is the founder and CEO of Astrotalk, an astrological forecasting app. He is also a TEDx Speaker.

Wiki/Biography

Puneet Gupta was born in Punjab, India. He celebrates his birthday on 10th May. His zodiac sign is Taurus. In 2005, he completed his primary education at St. Xavier’s High School, Bathinda. He completed his higher secondary education in the non-medical stream at S.S.D. Senior Secondary Public School, Bathinda in 2007. In 2011, he completed his bachelor’s in technology and engineering at PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh. ^[1]LinkedIn – Puneet Gupta

Physical Appearance

Height (approx.): 5′ 9″

Weight (approx.): 70 kg

Hair Colour: Black

Eye Colour: Black

Family

In one of his TED talks, he revealed that he belongs to a lower-middle-class Punjabi family and his grandfather was an Ayurveda doctor and was very famous in his home town.

I come from a lower-middle-class family and got graduated with a B.Tech from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh in 2011. We had a joint family. I served my notice and left Mumbai in November 2013. I moved to my hometown (Bathinda, Punjab, India) to start something in Ayurveda with my grandfather as he used to practice medicine and had cured many patients for Appendicitis, Hepatitis, Stone, Piles, etc.”

Parents & Siblings

Puneet Gupta’s father is a shopkeeper ^[2]A Junior VC. He owns a wholesale shop of bedsheets, Ganpati Handloom, Bathinda. His mother Prabha Rani, works at Punjab & Sind Bank. He has a brother named Kamal Gupta, who helps his father in business.

Wife & Children

On 3 July 2021, he got married to Deepika Tomar.

Religion

He follows Hinduism.

Signature

Career

Nomura Services India Pvt. Ltd

In June 2011, through campus placement, he joined Nomura Services India Pvt. Ltd (Investment Bank of Japan) in Mumbai as an analyst ^[3]Puneet Gupta – Facebook with a salary of INR 37000. He worked there for two years, where his probation was extended and resigned in November 2013. Before that, he was an intern at Philips India. After serving his notice period in Nomura Services India Pvt. Ltd, he left Mumbai and moved to his hometown, Bhatinda, Punjab. In the next six months, he exhausted his savings and went bankrupt. At the same time, he applied at Flipkart but they rejected him since he was not from IIT.

Career Break

In November 2013, he came back to Bhatinda and took a break from his career for seven months.

A Mumbai-based startup project

In May 2014, a Mumbai-based startup company approached Puneet Gupta to do a month-long project with them. He moved to Mumbai with 17000 INR from which he spent 11000 INR on his flight to Mumbai. In one of his TED talks, he revealed that to survive a month in Mumbai for 6000 INR, he ate cheap food with labourers and even slept on the floor and said,

Finally, a startup called me to complete a project in a month and their budget was half my salary. I agreed and went to join them, as I thought I will find a permanent job in that month. This startup had asked me to come by flight and take a reimbursement after joining, but when I joined, they said it would take 15 days to approve and therefore it would be credited to my salary after one month. I had 17k in my account when I left home and had spent 11k on the flight. No way I could survive in Mumbai with 6k. So, I decided to eat cheap food and find a cheap place to live in. All my friends had left Mumbai by that time and I had no place to share an apartment. But one of them asked me to go stay at his friend’s place and when I went there I saw there were way too many people in that flat already and had no extra bedding. I slept on the floor for a few days in that apartment. For breakfast, I had coffee filled with a half cup of sugar so that I didn’t feel hungry. For lunch, I found an amazing place where labourers used to eat, and they served 5 puris with unlimited vegetables and salad for Rs 15. For dinner, I would eat raw bread and have milk.”

BNP Paribas India Solutions Private Limited

After completing that project, in June 2014, he joined BNP Paribas India Solutions Private Limited in Mumbai as a software developer. He worked there for 10 months and in March 2015, he resigned from his post.

CodeYeti Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd

In April 2015, he became the co-founder and CEO at CodeYeti Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd, Noida. In September 2017, the company fired him from his post.

AstroTalk

In October 2017, he founded AstroTalk, an astrological forecasting app. The app became the market leader in terms of revenue within a span of 2 years. After COVID-19, the app revenue increased to INR 23 lacs. In an interview, Puneet Gupta revealed the app revenue and his belief in astrology behind generating the app and said,

I founded this company after some astrologer predicted something very accurately about me and then I thought of taking this science to the masses. Post the COVID-19 crisis, our daily revenue has increased to INR 23 lacs as people are concerned about their job security, relationship status, and the mental conflicts are also on the rise. The total mobile application installs so far are 4.1 Mn and our repeat customer rate is 13 per annum, the highest among any industry.” ^[4]BW Disrupt

Along with MaskChat, in March 2017, he launched another app named Beaume. Puneet Gupta also delivers TED talks about his success and life lessons.

Car Collection

• Hyundai Grand i10

• Range Rover
  

  Puneet Gupta with his Hundai i10 and Range Rover cars

Facts/Trivia

• During his first job, a senior coworker once offered to assist Puneet with an astrology prediction. Puneet tried astrology even though he was never a believer. She predicted that Puneet may quit his job but she also expected his startup to shut down in April 2017 due to the departure of his partner. She added that he shouldn’t be concerned because he will start something new in 2017–18 that will be a great success. Puneet ultimately announced his resignation even though he didn’t think her predictions would come true. He genuinely had a successful startup, but as fate would have it, in March 2017 his partner left him.
  

  Before leaving my job in 2015 to start an IT services company, a colleague, who was also an Astrologer, forced down a prediction on me. I didn’t ask for it and I also made fun of her but she told me how my next 4 years are going to be. She had predicted that my company would do very well for 2 years but then the downfall will start after my partner would leave. And as she had told, the company did very well & we had a team size of 45. Also, my partner left me in March 2017 & the business went down and then the company got shut down by end of 2017. This was too much of a surprise for me as I always thought astrologers had just one pet dialogue, “You are not getting as much as you put in the efforts” which is true for everyone. But that colleague has predicted some real shit. That’s when I thought of starting up in the field of Astrology and recruit Astrologers like her, who can really help people. Today, we have completed 3 years in business and are valued over USD 150 Million.”

• In 2007, he obtained All India Rank (AIR) 2968 in the IIT-JEE and AIR 2191 in the AIEEE exam.

• After being fired from CodeYeti Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd, Noida in 2017, he suffered through depression as he revealed during a TED talk.

• Puneet Gupta is fond of cricket and his hobby includes playing cricket.
  

  Puneet Gupta playing cricket

• Puneet Gupta loves cats and also has a pet cat.
  

  Puneet Gupta with his pet cat

• In 2009-10, Puneet Gupta was a class representative and a student council member at PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh.

• In 2022, Astrotalk generated a revenue of over INR 1 crore a day without raising any external capital. Astrotalk’s one-day revenue is more than the revenue that several Indian unicorn startups generate.

• He often listens to Punjabi songs sung by the Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala.

• He once fell in love with a girl who belonged to a rich upper-class family. Puneet’s daily expenses on meals were less than her single cup of coffee at Starbucks. She wanted Puneet to work hard and earn well but Puneet was satisfied with his salary. The difference in opinions led to the breakup. In his TED talks, he mentions how his breakup was a turning point in his life and said,
  

   I made a promise to myself that I would work my ass off and not settle for anything less in life. I thought success was the only answer to what I went through that day.”

• On 18 November 2023, Puneet Gupta promised to distribute an amount of INR one hundred crore to Astrotalk users in the event of India’s victory during the India vs Australia ODI World Cup 2023 final at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium. ^[5]The Times of India

Astrotalk will distribute a total of 💸💸 Rs 100 crores 💸💸💸 in the Astrotalk wallet of our customers on Sunday when India wins the World Cup. Equal distribution to everyone!

Let's Cheer for India.

Indiaaaaa! India! 👏👏👏

— Puneet Gupta (@iPuneetGupta) November 18, 2023