In the latest addition to top-level exits at Swiggy, Karan Arora, vice president and head of supply chain management (SCM) of the the food delivery giant quit after a stint of three and a hald years. Arora will join Karthik Gurumurthy, the former head of Swiggy Instamart, who had quit in November last year to launch Convenio. Arora will be the co-founder of Convenio, an offline retail startup that mirrors Swiggy’s business model.
In a LinkedIn post on April 3, Arora expressed gratitude for his journey at Swiggy Instamart while hinting at the allure of disrupting the e-commerce space through his new endeavour. “After 3.5 years of building Swiggy Instamart, this exhilarating journey of mine comes to an end…I believe e-commerce gives us a non-linear platform for growth but what I’ve also learnt is that disruptions in this space can be even quicker…Joining hands with Karthik Gurumurthy and co-founding something exciting,” Arora wrote.
Bhupesh Pangti, Swiggy’s VP of Supply Chain, has been appointed to take over Arora’s responsibilities, leveraging his experience since joining the company in 2021.
“During his tenure of over 3.5 years with Swiggy, Karan has helped in building Swiggy Instamart. As he embarks on his entrepreneurial journey, we extend our best wishes and full support from the Swiggy team,” a Swiggy spokesperson said in a statement.
Swiggy’s high-profile exits started in April last year, with the resignation of former chief technology officer (CTO) Dale Vaz, who left to establish his own wealth tech firm Aaritya Tech. This was followed by the departures of Ashish Lingamneni, VP of brand and product marketing, and Nishad Kenkre, VP of revenue and growth for Instamart, within the span of a month.
Similarly, Anuj Rathi, the former SVP of revenue and growth, opted to join fintech startup Jupiter.
Recently, US-based asset management company Baron Capital marked up the fair value of its stake in Swiggy by nearly 17% to $87.2 million as of December 31, from $74.7 million in the previous quarter. This put Swiggy’s valuation at $12.1 billion, 13% higher than the $10.7 billion when it last raised funds in 2022.
Swiggy’s other investor, Invesco, had also recently marked up its valuation to $8.5 billion as of October 31, from $7.8 billion as of July. Both Invesco and Baron Capital were a part of Swiggy’s last fundraising round of $700 million in January 2022. Baron Capital had bought into that round as a fresh investor with $76.7 million in exchange for a 1.9% stake.
These developments unfold as Swiggy prepares for its highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO) later this year, aiming to raise over $1 billion. The company had reportedly generated revenue from operations of Rs 5,476 crore in the first nine months of FY24, marking a 25-30% year-on-year growth during the fiscal.