Entrupy at Kambala Speed: Fast in the Slush, Firm on its Feet
Entrupy is a global leader in authenticating physical goods, the technology the world's most trusted brands rely on to verify what is real. When it came time to scale India operations, Vishal Kanchan, Head of People Operations India, chose to build where others weren't looking, the coast. Management gave him 5 people and 6 months to prove it. The city handed back 40 people, zero attrition, and a model every other department is now asking to replicate.
THE ORIGIN
The Man Who Came Back to Prove It Was Possible
Entrupy needed to scale its India operations and the conventional answer was a metro city. Vishal Kanchan, Head of People Operations India, disagreed. He had been watching Mangaluru closely for years, and by 2025, he had a case that was hard to argue with.
“When Niveus Solutions built a thousand-person team here in under three years, it answered the one question no report could. The talent wasn't just being produced in Mangaluru. It was choosing to stay.”
Post-COVID, something fundamental shifted. Engineers who had spent years in metro cities began to reflect on a different question, not where the next opportunity was, but why they had left the coast in the first place. The life they had grown up with, close to family and with commutes measured in minutes rather than hours, was no longer something they were willing to trade away. Vishal had been observing this shift quietly. When Niveus scaled it into a thousand-person team, the city no longer needed justification. It simply became the answer.
Vishal Kanchan
- Head Of People Operations, India, Entrupy
Born in Karkala, he pursued engineering at NMAMIT, Nitte. He began his career in refinery and production engineering with De Smet Balestra and Medore Equipments, working across India. In 2012, he joined Entrupy India as one of its first hires and went on to spend over a decade building the engineering function. In 2024, he transitioned into Head of People Operations, bringing that same operational depth to people and culture.
THE PITCH
Something Observed Over Years, Not Decided in a Day
Vishal did not walk into a boardroom with a slide deck. He walked in with three things he had personally witnessed over years of watching the coast from a distance, and then up close. Each one answered a question that data alone could not.
NIVEUS SOLUTIONS CHANGED THE CONVERSATION
When Niveus Solutions built a 1,000-person team in under three years, it did something no projection could. It proved that Mangaluru's talent pool wasn't just large; it was committed. Post-COVID, people who had grown up here were making an active choice to build their careers here. That was the signal Vishal had been waiting for.
RETENTION IS A GEOGRAPHY ADVANTAGE
In metro cities, the strongest hires are also the most likely to leave. In Mangaluru, the pull runs the other way. Quality of life, proximity to family, a city where your commute is 15 minutes. These are not perks a company provides. They are structural reasons people stay, and no competitor in Bangalore can match them.
THE INFRASTRUCTURE IS NOW GENUINELY WORLD-CLASS
The infrastructure question, once the hardest to answer, had quietly been solved. Plug and play workspaces meant companies could walk in with a plan and be operational almost immediately. No construction timelines, no heavy overheads, no friction. The city had built the conditions to absorb serious companies at speed. That was what Vishal was betting on.
“Today's youth grew up with quality of life in this region. They do not want to give it up to sit in a Bangalore PG room.”
VISHAL KANCHAN, HEAD OF PEOPLE OPERATIONS, INDIA, ENTRUPY
THE EXECUTION
A Plan That Outgrew Itself
The brief was conservative. The results outpaced every projection.
Management approved a 5-person pilot with a 6-month window to prove tangible value. Every hire came through personal connection. Those first five went on to run the core work that directly shapes Entrupy's authentication product.
Pilot delivered. Management expanded the mandate within weeks. The team grew from 5 to 12. The results were concrete enough that other departments began asking: why can't we do this too? The 6-month experiment was over before it began.
With several departments now running operations from Mangaluru, one team reached the scale to operate round-the-clock. Supporting a 24/7 function meant building the full bench behind it: headcount reached 40 across multiple teams working in parallel. Other departments, watching the results, are already in queue to follow the same model.
“Every time I said we would slow down,
past experience proved me wrong.”
VISHAL KANCHAN, ENTRUPY
THE ECOSYSTEM
The City That Moved First
Entrupy did not arrive in Mangaluru to build from scratch. Before the office was set up, before the first hire was made, the city's people and infrastructure had already laid the groundwork.
THE NETWORK EFFECT
The right people picked up the phone.
The connections were already there: colleagues, old classmates, people who knew the city. Four calls were enough to get started. The community did the rest.
“Even before we arrived, we had great support.”
TALENT
Industry Networks That Delivered
Vishal made one call. Fellow industry leaders referred a wave of candidates. The first five hires came in before Entrupy had formally announced its presence. They went on to become the foundation of every team that followed.
COMMUNITY
A Community That Opened Doors
Prashanth Shenoy, co-founder of UniCourt, had been advocating for Entrupy to set up in Mangaluru long before the decision was made. When the time came, he brought the right people into the room, backed the move publicly, and ensured the city was ready to receive them.
INFRASTRUCTURE
A City Built for Light Footprint
Entrupy went from 0 to 40 people in under five months without owning a single square foot. Plug-and-play managed workspaces meant they could start in 15 days, run interviews on day one, and scale across three offices as demand grew.
“All I had to do was reach out to Prashanth. He put me in touch with the right people, and it was four phone calls. That's all. The workspace team made it that easy.”
VISHAL KANCHAN, HEAD OF PEOPLE OPERATIONS, INDIA, ENTRUPY
THE RESULTS
The Experiment Ended. The Blueprint Stayed.
What started as a 5-person pilot has become a 40-person, multi-team operation running across three offices in Mangaluru. One department is going 24/7. Others, having watched what this team built, are already asking to follow. The Mangaluru model is no longer an experiment. It is the template.
“The plan of running a 6-month experimental phase went out the window. It was a good problem to have.”
“Once they saw that one or two teams had success, more than what we had expected, the question from everyone else was: why are we not doing this?”
A university pipeline from NITK, Manipal, and NITTE is already being built. Engineering is the next phase. For Entrupy, Mangaluru is not just another setup, but the foundation on which it will build its next chapter.
“If you are here to build something lasting, the conditions are genuinely favourable right now. The talent wants to be here. The infrastructure exists to get started quickly. And the community of people who can help you is real and accessible.”
VISHAL KANCHAN, HEAD OF PEOPLE OPERATIONS, INDIA, ENTRUPY