Zomato co-founder Gaurav Gupta steps down

GAURAV Gupta, the co-founder and head of supply of food delivery platform Zomato, has stepped down, a few days after the company exited its grocery delivery and nutraceutical businesses.

Gupta’s exit also happened just a couple of months after the food delivery firm raised $1.3 billion in an initial public offering (IPO), informed sources said. He joined Zomato in 2015 and was made the chief operating officer in 2018 and founder in 2019. He was the company’s face in the run-up to the IPO, leading talks with investors and media.

He was also part of the team that launched Zomato Pro and looked at ways to improve the merchant experience on the platform.

Zomato had decided to enter the online grocery delivery segment in April last year when the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic had set in.

“I am taking a new turn in my life and will be starting a new chapter, taking a lot from this defining chapter of my life -- the last six years at Zomato,” Gupta said in an email to the employees earlier on Tuesday (14).

“We have a great team now to take Zomato forward and it is time for me to take an alternate path in my journey. I am very emotional as I write this and don’t think any words can do justice to how I am feeling right now,” he wrote.

Confirming Gupta’s exit. Zomato chief executive officer Deepinder Goyal tweeted, “Thank you @grvgpta – the last 6 years have been amazing and we have come very far. There's so much of our journey still ahead of us, and I am thankful that we have a great team and leadership to carry us forward.”

“I wish you all the best for your future, and look forward to continue being the friends that we are for the rest of our lives. I am pumped and excited to see what you will cook up next. Make @zomato proud,” he said in another tweet.