Ride-hailing unicorn Ola confirms two high-level exits

Homegrown cab-hailing unicorn Ola confirmed that two of its rung run executives have exited the company

“Arun Srinivas, chief sales and marketing officer, and Sanjiv Saddy, senior vice president of corporate affairs, are moving on to pursue other opportunities outside of Ola. The organisation wishes them well in their future endeavours,” a spokesperson of the Bengaluru based startup told TechCircle on Monday.

Multiple media outlets reported the exits on Friday, citing anonymous sources.  It is unclear if the executives’ resignations are immediately effective. 

The spokesperson did not respond to TechCircle’s requests for comment on when Srinivas and Saddy would depart from the company and subsequent role transitions of the defunct designations.

Saddy was appointed as SVP of corporate affairs six months ago. The former Flipkart executive has over 35 years of experience in corporate affairs and government relations, business development and finance. He has also worked with companies like Tata Communications, Emaar MGF Land and Freightwinds and Travels, among others.

Meanwhile, Srinivas joined the company a year ago in July 2019. According to his LinkedIn profile, he heads the India business with the responsibility for business growth. His looks after global functions of marketing, revenue, support, among others at all of Ola’s mobility options.

He also steered Ola’s London business launch in February 2020, the profile description added. Prior to Ola, Srinivas worked across various capacities in Reebok prior to the Adidas merger, consumer goods maker Unilever, and global private equity firm WestBridge Capital Partners.

Late May, CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said that the company’s business was down by about 95% due to the Covid-19 induced lockdown’s effect on its ridership. As a result, the company let go of 1,400 employees or about 25% of total headcount.