Dunzo co-founder and CTO Mukund Jha steps down

Mukund Jha, the co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) of quick commerce company Dunzo, is reportedly stepping down. This comes just a day after Dalvir Suri, another co-founder of Dunzo, left the company that he helped establish in 2015. 
 
While it is not clear what Jha's next move will be, insiders suggest that he has already taken a step back from daily operations. A formal announcement regarding his departure may be made in the coming weeks, and some employees within the company have already been informed of this impending change. 
 
However, Dunzo has officially denied Jha's departure. A spokesperson for the company stated, "Mukund remains an integral part of Dunzo's leadership team. While we are restructuring the organization with new leaders driving key initiatives, Mukund will continue to be an important part of the strategic leadership team guiding and directing Dunzo's future plans." 
 
According to sources, Jha left Dunzo's board on September 1. In August, Suri, Vaidhehi Ravindran from Lightrock, and Rajendra Kamath and Ashwin Khasgiwala from Reliance Retail also stepped down from the company's board. 
 
Notably, Jha, Suri, and Ankur Aggarwal, the co-founders of Dunzo, do not have ownership stakes in the company. Instead, they received salaries and held ESOPs (employee stock ownership plans), similar to several other employees. However, Dunzo has postponed the distribution of these ESOPs multiple times in the past. 
 
In contrast, Dunzo's CEO and co-founder Kabeer Biswas retains approximately 3.6% ownership of the company, making him the only co-founder with a stake in the business. Jha's departure coincides with Dunzo's ongoing efforts to raise funds, with plans to secure between $25-30 million to support its operations. There are indications that Reliance Retail may increase its stake in the company as part of this fundraising. 
 
As part of its funding efforts, Dunzo has significantly cut costs by closing dark stores and laying off over 500 employees. 
 
Jha, who joined Dunzo in 2015, played a crucial role in communicating layoffs and salary delays to employees. He conducted several company-wide town hall meetings and addressed concerns from staff members. Recently, Jha informed employees that Dunzo had postponed previous funding rounds to protect its valuation. 
 
Since 2015, Dunzo has raised nearly $500 million from investors, including Reliance, Google, Lightrock, Lightbox, Blume Ventures, and others. Reliance holds the largest stake in the company at 25.8%, with Google as the second-largest shareholder at around 19% ownership, according to Tracxn, a private markets data provider.