In the latest high-profile exit from Swiggy, Karan Arora, Vice President and Head of Supply Chain Management (SCM) at the food delivery giant, has announced his resignation after a tenure of three and a half years.
Arora’s departure adds to a series of top-level exits at Swiggy, with notable figures like Karthik Gurumurthy, the former head of Swiggy Instamart, who left last November to establish Convenio, an offline retail startup modelled after Swiggy’s business model.
Expressing gratitude for his time at Swiggy Instamart and hinting at his new venture, Arora took to LinkedIn on 3 April to announce his departure. He wrote, “After 3.5 years of building Swiggy Instamart, this exhilarating journey of mine comes to an end…I believe ecommerce gives us a non-linear platform for growth but what I’ve also learnt is that disruptions in this space can be even quicker…Joining hands with Karthik Gurumurthy and co-founding something exciting.”
Following Arora’s exit, Bhupesh Pangti, Swiggy’s VP of Supply Chain, has been appointed to take over his responsibilities, leveraging his experience since joining the company in 2021.
A Swiggy spokesperson has been quoted in reports on Arora’s departure, saying, “During his tenure of over 3.5 years with Swiggy, Karan has helped in building Swiggy Instamart. As he embarks on his entrepreneurial journey, we extend our best wishes and full support from the Swiggy team.”
Arora’s resignation adds to a series of high-profile exits from Swiggy over the past year, starting with former Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Dale Vaz’s departure in April last year to establish his own wealth tech firm, Aaritya Tech. This trend continued with the resignations of Ashish Lingamneni, VP of brand and product marketing, and Nishad Kenkre, VP of revenue and growth for Instamart, within the span of a month. Similarly, Anuj Rathi, the former SVP of revenue and growth, chose to join fintech startup Jupiter.
Despite the significant departures, Swiggy has seen positive developments in its valuation. US-based asset management company Baron Capital recently marked up the fair value of its stake in Swiggy by nearly 17 per cent to USD 87.2 million as of 31 December 2023, from USD 74.7 million in the previous quarter. This valuation puts Swiggy at USD 12.1 billion, a 13 per cent increase from its last funding round in 2022.
