Tech firms in the US are often synonymously recognised with the prominence of skilled foreign professionals, especially those of Indian-origin, in the country. While this particular group of South Asian descent has always remained an influential force within the American tech and entrepreneurship sector, in a rare move, Astronomer, a New York-based AI infrastructure startup was thrust into mainstream focus due to a scandalous Coldplay concert moment gone viral instead.

Astronomer unwittingly made it to the frontpages, and consumed your social media feed and headlines this week after its CEO Andy Byron and HR Head Kristin Cabot were caught on camera hugging each other during a Boston show of the beloved band. The unlikely pair’s embarrassing moment became the talk of the town as the executives’ mortified reactions flashed on the kiss cam suggested that their alleged affair had been unexpectedly outed.

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In light of it being revealed that Byron and Cabot are actually married to their respective partners (Megan Kerrigan Byron and Andrew Cabot), internet sleuths dug deeper into their lives, further thrusting Astronomer into the limelight. And as it so happens, some key members of the US tech company’s leadership are, in fact, of Indian descent, bringing the South Asian connection with the professional tech track full circle.

Indian-origin Astronomer employees as part of the company’s leadership

According to the Astronomer website, at least three executives have Indian roots: Chief Customer Officer Bhanu Sareddy, Chief Strategy Officer Vikram Koka and company Co-Founder, VP of Sales Engineering Viraj Parekh.

A picture with some members of the Astronomer team going viral on the Internet also features two of these presumed Indian-origin officials (Bhanu Sareddy and Viraj Parekh) sharing a Kodak moment with Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot. Co-Founder, Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy, who has now been named the interim CEO, and Chief Revenue Officer Mike Haas are pictured in the camera click as well.

Who are the Indian-origin faces behind US tech company Astronomer?

  • Bhanu Sareddy: The Chief Customer Officer at Astronomer has now been with the team for nearly two years, having joined in October 2023. Before that, he was the Chief Customer Officer at Cybereason, where Byron also worked at one point. He pursued Chemical Engineering at Osmania University and a master’s degree in Computer Science at Northeaster University in the 1990s.
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  • Vikram Koka: Taking the lead as the company’s Chief Strategy Officer, the veteran engineering leader is based in the San Francisco Bay area. He will soon complete six years with Astronomer, having been promoted to the CSO post just last year. Additionally, he’s even Apache Airflow Committer and PMC member. As per his LinkedIn account, he had an over 7-year-lomng stint at Flexera Software. He got his master’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UC Santa Barbara. Like Sareddy, he also studied at Osmania University, while pursuing his bachelor of science degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering. He is believed to have completed his schooling from the Hyderabad Public School in Ramanthapur.
  • Viraj Parekh: As a founding member of the company, the NYC-based exec is also the vice president of Sales Engineering, as per the Astronomer website. His LinkedIn account states that he was a 2016 Fellow for the nonprofit Venture for America. Parekh received his bachelor’s degree in Economics, Mathematics, Computer Science from Boston College.