Zomato elevates CEO of food delivery biz Mohit Gupta as co-founder

Online food delivery platform Zomato has elevated the CEO of its food delivery business, Mohit Gupta, to the position of co-founder, a company spokesperson told TechCircle.

The Ant Financial-backed firm now has four active co-founders: Deepinder Goyal, Gunjan Patidar, Gaurav Gupta and Mohit Gupta.

Pankaj Chaddah, who set up Zomato in 2008 with Goyal, quit the company after a ten-year stint. In 2019, he set up healthtech platform Mindhouse.

The company did not respond to TechCircle’s queries on the additional responsibilities that Gupta's new role will entail.  

The development was first reported by The Economic Times.

“While the foundation of Zomato was built before Mohit Gupta joined us, he has been instrumental in significantly strengthening it over the last two years… When I introduced the Founders Programme a little over a year ago, I outlined a few qualities that all founders must exhibit. These qualities include trustworthiness, commitment and resilience among other things. MG checks all these boxes and more,” Deepinder Goyal, co-founder and CEO, told employees in an email on Sunday, the financial daily reported.

Read: Zomato makes Aarogya Setu app mandatory for delivery partners

Gupta joined the company in July 2018 from Gurgaon-based online travel company MakeMyTrip, where he spent 10 years in various roles.  He has also worked at companies such as Zovi and Pepsico International.

Gupta has a mechanical engineering degree from Sardar Patel University and a post graduate diploma in marketing from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.

Earlier this month, Zomato announced plans to lay off 13% of its 4,000-strong workforce as part of cost-cutting measures to tide over the Covid-19 crisis.

The layoffs came on the heels of a $5 million fundraise from Pacific Horizon Investment Trust, a fund managed by British investment management firm Baillie Gifford, last month. It also raised $150 million from returning investor Ant Financial as part of a larger round in January.

The company also forayed into the grocery delivery business last month. It currently operates in cities including Delhi, Gurugram, Kerala and Punjab. 

Earlier this month, rival Swiggy saw the exit of founder and CTO Rahul Jaimini, who quit the company to focus on his co-founder duties at HR tech firm Pesto Tech. He continues to be a board member and a shareholder in Zomato.