Cleartrip’s CBO Prahlad Krishnamurthi Quits To Join Bizongo’s NextBuy As CEO

Flipkart-owned travel platform Cleartrip’s chief business officer Prahlad Krishnamurthi has stepped down from his role to join as a chief executive officer in Bizongo’s procurement platform NextBuy.

After nine-year of his stint at the Flipkart Group, Krishnamurthi took to his LinkedIn profile to announce the resignation.

“Leading NextBuy is going to be a new kind of journey, and I can’t wait to dive in with the team to solve for B2B e-commerce in India,” Krishnamurthi said in his post.

Krishnamurthi joined Flipkart in 2015 as the director for category marketing (electronics). Later, he served at various leadership positions at the company, including senior director for marketing in several verticals like fashion, electronics and home. 

In 2021, he was elevated to the position of CBO at Cleartrip. 

Prior to Flipkart, Krishnamurthi played several key roles, including at ITC Limited for seven years. 

Founded by Hrush Bhatt, Matthew Spacie and Stuart Crighton in 2006, Cleartrip is an online travel aggregator that allows users to book flight tickets and hotels. It was acquired by Walmart-owned Flipkart in 2021 for $40 Mn in a distressed sale. 

It is pertinent to note that Cleartrip has seen some key onboardings as well as resignations lately.

For instance, a few months back, the company onboarded Anuj Rathi as its chief business and growth officer.

In April, the startup announced that its chief financial officer, Aditya Agarwal stepped down from his position. After his resignation, the role was taken over by former finance executive Akshat Mishra.

In February, Cleartrip’s chief executive officer Ayyappan Rajagopal stepped down from his position after serving the Flipkart Group for eleven years. As per the company, the position has not been filled by anyone yet.

Cleartrip’s net loss surged 90% to INR 676.5 Cr in FY23 from INR 356.5 Cr in the previous fiscal year, marking a nearly 2X jump.