Rocket Internet-backed PrintVenue's Saurabh Kochhar joins Foodpanda as CEO for India & CBO of global business

Foodpanda.com, a Rocket Internet-backed global, multi-location online food ordering marketplace (which operates under Hellofood brand in some markets), has appointed Saurabh Kochhar as India chief executive officer (CEO) and the chief business officer (CBO) for its global operations. In his new role, Kochhar's key focus areas will be the strategic growth of the company. He will be responsible for restructuring the sales force, introducing new target markets, fostering more partnerships with restaurants in newer geographies, and improving global marketing collaborations.

"Food as a whole is an amazing opportunity in India, and globally. I see an aggressive growth in this segment and hopefully would be able to make a material difference in this journey," said Kochhar.

Kochhar has over eight years of experience and is also the founder and managing director (MD) of PrintVenue, a printing solutions startup backed by Rocket-Internet. Before setting up PrintVenue in 2012, Kochhar had earlier worked at companies like McKinsey & Co and Oracle India Pvt Ltd. An IIM-Calcutta alumnus, he also holds a B.Tech degree in electronics and communication from IIT-Roorkee.

Foodpanda in India was headed by Rohit Chadda, who was serving as its managing director. It is not immediately clear what role will Chadda now play within the Rocket Internet group of portfolio companies.

Founded in April 2012, Foodpanda features location-specific listing of restaurants on its site. Users can check out menus, along with special offers, post that they can order and get food delivered to their homes. One can also search for restaurants according to cuisine, and/or by other parameters such as vegetarian/non-veg, healthy food, etc. The company helps restaurants increase sales through online and mobile platforms and also provides them with technology and analytics. According to the company, it has partnered with over 45,000 restaurants in 40 countries globally.

Earlier this month, Foodpanda had raised $110 million in fresh funding from a group of investors, including existing investors like Rocket Internet AG, as well as new unnamed investors. The funds will be invested in product and technology, as well as for improving its customer service.

This round took the total funding raised by Foodpanda to date to over $200 million. The company had raised $60 million from a group of investors, including existing investors like Falcon Edge Capital and Rocket Internet AG in August 2014. In February the same year, it had raised $20 million from Phenomen Ventures, a Russia-based venture capital firm and a group of unnamed investors.

Prior to that, Foodpanda had received $8 million in funding from iMena Holdings, an online consumer business group operating in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in September 2013. Before that, it had raised over $20 million from a group of investors that included Investment AB Kinnevik, a Sweden-based investment company, and Phenomen Ventures. Existing investor Rocket Internet also invested in the round.

Last month, Foodpanda had acquired its Indian rival Just Eat India. The transaction details were not disclosed. As part of the deal, Just Eat India will get a minority holding in Foodpanda.in. According to the company, post this deal, it is present in over 200 cities and has partnerships with over 12,000 restaurants in the country.

The acquisition came barely a couple of months after Foodpanda acquired three of its rivals in Central Eastern Europe— Donesi.com (which has operations in Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia & Herzegovina); Pauza.hr (Croatia); and NetPincer (Hungary). Prior to that, it had acquired Delivery Hero-backed companies including India-based TastyKhana.in, and Mexico-based firms PedidosYa, SeMeAntoja and Superantojo.