In a shocking post-IPO development, Gaurav Gupta, co-founder of food delivery platform Zomato has resigned from the company despite the huge success its IPO generated and remains to rally upward in the Sensex ever since.
Gupta, who joined Zomato in 2015 became its Chief Operating Officer in 2018 and as one of the founder in 2019. He had driven the much-anticipated IPO, despite critics and many investors questioning the loss-making giant entering the public offer at a higher valuation. In fact, the post-IPO share of Zomato zoomed to reach Rs. 148 as of today, almost double the issue price couple of months ago.
However, Gaurav Gupta's exit also follows Zomato's exit from its grocery delivery and Nutraceutical business. "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," Deepinder Goyal, co-founder of Zomato told Moneycontrol.
Quoting sources, report said the exit was a long time expectation since Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal and Gaurav Gupta had a fallout some time ago since the businesses launched by Gupta, including grocery, nutraceuticals among others, were struggling or had to be shut down.
Starting a new chapter
Gaurav Gupta in his internal mail said he is "starting a new chapter" after his 6-year stint at Zomato. "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," Gupta told executives at Zomato in an email.
Zomato has shut down its grocery delivery service, and the nutraceutical business which it had entered last year with health and fitness products amid Covid pandemic but achieved no turn around in business.
During the Covid shutdown, Zomato reported a net loss of Rs 356 crore during the quarter ended June 30, 2021, against Rs 99.8 crore during the like period of the previous financial year, while the total income stood at Rs 916 crore during the quarter under review compared to Rs 283.5 crore in 2020 quarter.
