The trend of promoting a top executive to position of co-founder is a rare thing for Indian startups but Zomato has now done this rare thing twice in a matter of one year. After elevating COO Gaurav Gupta to co-founder position last year, the foodtech major has now promoted Mohit Gupta, CEO of food delivery unit, to the illustrious position.
Although the news awaits official confirmation, the news is all but confirmed, according to media reports. Techpluto will reach out to Zomato on this latest development and will update this story as and when we get the confirmation from the company.
Mohit Gupta was appointed as CEO of Zomato food delivery business in 2018. His earlier stint included VP marketing Pepsi Foods Pvt Ltd and chief marketing officer, Makemytrip Ltd, according to Bloomberg. Gupta’s elevation is apparently seen as a reward for his good performance, since under his tenure the Gurugram based company has reportedly achieved monthly order volume of 40 Mn.
Gupta’s elevation has also come at a time when unprecedented crises brought forth by coronavirus pandemic has severely impacted the businesses of online food delivery companies. With India imposing one of the strictest lockdowns in the world, restaurants across the country have remained closed for almost two months now; bringing the businesses of foodtech majors like Zomato and Swiggy to a grinding halt.
While announcing the layoff news last week, Zomato’s cofounder & CEO Deepinder Goyal had summed up the impact of COVID-19 on the company’s business.
“A large number of restaurants have already shutdown permanently and we know that this is only a tip of the iceberg. I expect the number of restaurants to shrink by 25-40% over the next 6-12 months. What actually happens, for better or worse, is anybody’s guess,” Goyal said in the mail.
“We need to make sure that we preserve as much cash as possible to whether the storm,” he further added in the mail.
To compensate for the loss of business, Zomato and Swiggy have recently started home delivery of alcohol since booze is under huge demand during the lockdown period.