GroundTruth CEO Dipanshu Sharma departs over alleged 'policy violations'
Dipanshu Sharma, CEO of ad tech startup GroundTruth, has abruptly tendered his resignation just one month into a much heralded rebrand of the agency formerly known as xAd ‘amid an investigation into allegations of violations of company policy’.
GroundTruth CEO Dipanshu Sharma departs over alleged ‘policy violations’
According to reCode, colleagues were made aware that Sharma was no longer amongst them by a round robin email penned by chief financial officer Stephen McCarthy on Monday morning, who was at pains to stress that the decision was not connected to financial matters.
McCarthy wrote: “GroundTruth takes any such allegations very seriously. In accordance with company policy, the company instituted a prompt, thorough and objective investigation and will consider appropriate actions in the best interests of the company.”
Reportedly ‘stunned and silent’ employees were understandably keen to press for more details than a statement which raised more questions than answers but none have been forthcoming as of yet.
Sharma’s absence comes at a critical time for the newly minted company which changed its name from xAd amidst much fanfare during the Cannes Lions Festival. More than just a change of name the rebrand signals a desire to expand into markets beyond media advertising.
GroundTruth specializes in harnessing the power of location data to customize ads shown on mobile platforms, with Sharma himself being a passionate advocate for recent advances in big data and machine learning to boost the sector.