After Layoffs, IPO-Bound Cars24 Witnesses High-Level Exits

Used-car marketplace Cars24 is likely to see a number of top executives leave this month. Kingshuk Sanyal, vice president and business head of Cars24, will be parting ways with the startup this month, according to sources. 

Besides, Mrinal Sinha, chief human resources officer, is also likely to exit the startup which is heading for an IPO, the sources added.

Cars24 Global CTO Jitendra Agrawal has already put in his papers. On Monday (July 18), he announced his decision to move out from the startup. Agrawal, who has been with the startup since July last year, said that his specific goal of joining the company has been fulfilled. 

While Agrawal took upon himself to announce his departure, Sinha and Sanyal’s exit has not been publicly announced yet. 

Sanyal worked at Godfrey Phillips India for over six years before joining Cars24 as vice president and business head in May last year. Sanyal, who is serving notice period, was responsible for scaling up the buyer side of the business, including looking after sales, post sales, customer experience and cataloguing, at Cars24, as per his LinkedIn profile.

Meanwhile, Sinha, who was earlier SVP-Head of HR business partnering at Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, joined Cars24 as the chief human resources officer in June 2021.

Inc42 reached out to the three employees and Cars24 seeking their comments on the issue. However, all of them declined to comment on the development.

The resignations come on the heels of Cars24 laying off around 600 employees to cut costs. It is a well known fact that Cars24 is trying to reduce its costs, and laying off employees was one of the ways to do so. 

As per an ET report, the startup is looking to reduce its burn rate by around 50% from $20 Mn to $10 Mn per month in order to extend its run away.

The startup is said to be halting its aggressive expansion plans in the UAE, Middle East, Thailand, and Australia. The publication further reported that Cars24 has also shut down several of its offline centres across the country, except in the National Capital Region. 

Established in 2015 by Ruchit Agarwal, Vikram Chopra, Mehul Agrawal and Gajendra Jangid, Cars24 is a global ecommerce platform for pre-owned vehicles. It aims to transform the used-car industry by taking the entire journey of searching, buying, selling, and financing online. Last year, the startup raised $850 Mn in two rounds, which helped its valuation soar to $3.3 Bn.  It has over 205 branches and is currently operational across 182 major cities of India. 

As per the standalone financial statement of Cars24 Services Private Limited, the startup posted a total revenue of INR 2,771 Cr in financial year 2020-21 (FY21), of which INR 2,731 Cr came from operations. Its total expenses stood at INR 2,946 Cr in FY21, a noticeable drop from INR 3,342 Cr in FY20. Its loss stood at INR 175.4 Cr during the year, a drop from INR 283 Cr in FY20.