Anthropic has appointed former Microsoft executive Sangeeta Bavi as Head for Digital Natives, Startups, and Growth for India, as the AI firm looks to expand its presence in the country’s fast-growing startup ecosystem.

In her new role, Bavi will lead Anthropic’s efforts to drive adoption of Claude among Indian startups and mid-market companies. The move comes as global AI firms intensify competition in India, which is increasingly emerging as a key market for enterprise AI adoption and developer-led growth.

“India is at an extraordinary inflection point. Our founders and growth-stage companies are not just adopting AI, they are building with it, scaling with it, and taking it to every corner of the economy,” Bavi said in a LinkedIn post announcing her appointment.

“Being part of that journey, with AI that is genuinely built to be safe and beneficial, is something I have been looking forward to for a long time,” she added.

Anthropic’s India expansion comes at a time when AI companies are racing to build stronger local teams, partnerships and enterprise relationships to capture demand from startups, developers and digital-first businesses.

Before joining Anthropic, Bavi spent nearly a decade at Microsoft, where she worked across startup engagement, digital-native businesses and partner ecosystems.

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As Executive Director for Digital Natives between 2022 and 2025, she helped build Microsoft’s startup-focused business vertical in India and South Asia. Her role involved managing growth programmes for early-stage startups and unicorns, while helping companies scale using Microsoft’s cloud and AI technologies.

Bavi had joined Microsoft in 2014 as Product Marketing Manager for consumer apps and later moved into multiple leadership positions focused on startups and partner businesses.

Prior to Microsoft, Bavi spent close to seven years at Nokia in engineering, product management and developer outreach roles.

She joined Nokia in 2003 as a senior software engineer and later rose to become Head of Developer Outreach.  

Bavi holds a BTech in Computer Science from the National Institute of Technology, Warangal and later completed her MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.