Movers and Shakers Of The Week [11 -16 May]

We bring to you the latest edition of movers and shakers of the week in the Indian startup ecosystem.

This week, Gurugram-headquartered foodtech unicorn Zomato became the latest company to announce massive layoffs and pay cuts across the organisation to mitigate the revenue impact of Covid-19 lockdown.

In an email, CEO of Zomato Deepinder Goyal told employees that the company will have to layoff around 13% of its total workforce of 5000 employees. “Our business has been severely affected by the COVID lockdowns. A large number of restaurants have already shut down permanently, and we know that this is just the tip of the iceberg. I expect the number of restaurants to shrink by 25-40% over the next 6-12 months. What actually happens, for better or worse, is anybody’s guess,” Goyal added in a blog post.

Further, Goyal also announced temporary pay cuts across the organisation from June. “Lower cuts are being proposed for people with lower salaries, and higher cuts (up to 50%) for people with higher salaries,” Goyal said in an official post. This temporary reduction in pay will also be eligible for 2X employee stock grants.

The laid-off employees will receive half of their salaries along with health insurance, for the next six months or till they find their next job, whichever is earlier. the laid-off employees will be allowed to keep their Zomato-issued laptops and phones (if any) and will get outplacement support. Zomato is also letting employees vest their ESOPs.

Other Movers and Shakers Of The Week!

ZEE5 Strengthens Leadership

Over-the-top video streaming platform ZEE5 has appointed Anita Nayyar, Jayesh Easwaramony and Dhruvadeep Roy to strengthen the leadership team of the company.

In her new role as head of customer strategy and relationships, Nayyar will help build the agency-partner ecosystem for ZEE5 India Business. In her career spanning over 20 years, Nayyar has worked at varied Indian and Global firms.

An alumnus of IGNOU in masters in management, she was working at Havas Media Group as the CEO of India & South East Asia.

Easwaramony joins ZEE5 as a consultant for adtch to drive all advertising, user data and audience related initiatives, right from strategy to implementation with vendors and product teams.

Prior to this, Easwaramony was responsible to drive the APAC business of Softbank invested advertising firm InMobi for several years. He brings with him vast expertise in digital advertising and data monetisation. With over 20 years of experience, he has worked both as a consultant and executor in companies such as Frost and Sullivan, Tata Sky, Star India and Tata Group.

Roy, who joins ZEE5 India product team as director product – AdTech, will be responsible for leading all the product initiatives within adtech. He brings with him an experience spanning over 16 years and was leading the platforms and product at DAZN Sport Streaming Service across the UK, US, Canada and APAC in his previous avatar.

He has also worked with streaming services such as SoundCloud, Xbox in Microsoft and Apple Music. Roy holds a BSc in business administration majoring in digital media from the University of Bedfordshire.

ZEE5 is an over-the-top (OTT) video streaming platform run by Essel Group via its subsidiary Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL).

Onelife Nutriscience Appoints Vinay Jain

Nutraceuticals startup Onelife Nutriscience has appointed Vinay Jain to the role of chief operating officer. Jain comes with over 18 years of experience in sales, marketing and P&L management in both B2B & B2C companies.

Prior to joining Onelife, Vinay has been associated with reputed Companies like Parag Milk Foods Ltd, Amway India Enterprises Pvt Ltd and Foseco India Ltd. “Vinay joins at a time when the ongoing pandemic has resulted in sharp demand for preventative healthcare products,” said the founder of Onelife Gaurav Aggarwal.

Mumbai-based OneLife Nutriscience Pvt Ltd owns consumer healthcare brand OneLife – Live it right.

Mavenlink Appoints Jared Haleck

Cloud-based software provider Mavenlink has appointed Jared Haleck as its new senior vice president of product. Haleck will oversee Mavenlink’s product management, product design, and quality assurance functions.

Haleck, who will report directly to Mavenlink’s CEO Ray Grainger, has experience in leading product development for organisations in the SaaS industry. Prior to Mavenlink, Haleck was vice president of product at InsideSales.com, which recently rebranded to XANT. At XANT, Haleck led the product organization, delivering leading products for the product category created during his tenure.

Mavenlink is an enterprise tech software which helps companies to streamline their project flow.

Stay tuned for the next edition of Movers and Shakers of the week!

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