No End To Top-Level Exits At Zomato, Cofounder & CTO Gunjan Patidar Latest To Quit

In the latest high-profile exit at foodtech giant Zomato, its cofounder and chief technology officer (CTO) Gunjan Patidar has quit the company. 

Patidar tendered his resignation on Monday, Zomato said in an exchange filing, adding that he was not designated as a key managerial personnel and the disclosure was being made voluntarily. 

“Gunjan Patidar was one of the first few employees of Zomato and built the core tech systems for the company. Over the last ten plus years, he also nurtured a stellar tech leadership team that is capable of taking on the mantle of leading the tech function going forward. His contribution to building Zomato has been invaluable,” the filing said. 

It is not immediately clear who would take over as the next CTO of the foodtech giant. The company declined to comment on the matter. 

Hailing from Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone, Patidar graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He interned with Zomato during his third year of college and then graduated from the prestigious institute to join the US-based event management company Cvent. Subsequently, he joined Zomato full time and then rose through the ranks to become the CTO of Zomato. 

Patidar’s exit is the third high-level exit at the foodtech giant in just two months. 

In November, another cofounder Mohit Gupta tendered his resignation. Before that, Rahul Ganjoo, head of new initiatives at Zomato, and Siddharth Jhawar, vice-president of global growth, also quit the company in the same month. 

In September, Zomato’s deputy chief financial officer (CFO) Nitin Savara also tendered his resignation.

Founded in 2008 by Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah, Zomato operates multiple verticals including food delivery, quick commerce (Binkit) and B2B supplies (Hyperpure).

It is pertinent to note that Chaddah’s resignation in 2018 saw the elevation of three other senior executives namely Gaurav Gupta, Gunjan Patidar and Mohit Gupta as cofounders. Subsequently, Gaurav Gupta quit the company in September 2021, while Mohit Gupta tendered his resignation in November 2022. 

The hectic developments come at a tumultuous time for Zomato. The foodtech major saw one of the steepest declines in market capitalisation among new-age tech stocks in 2022. From a record-high of INR 1 Lakh Cr in July 2021, its market cap has fallen to INR 51,524.26 Cr as on Monday.

Last year also saw pre-IPO investors such as Sequoia, TPG Capital, Lighthouse India, Tiger Global, SoftBank, Alibaba, and Uber exit the company. 

The startup has also been plagued by widening loss. Its consolidated loss grew 35% to INR 250.8 Cr during the second quarter (Q2) of the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from INR 186 Cr in Q1 FY23, largely on the back of Blinkit acquisition. 

Meanwhile, its operating revenue surged 17% QoQ to INR 1,661.3 Cr during Q2 FY23. 

The foodtech giant also said that it saw 45% YoY rise in order volumes on new year’s eve. Zomato is also planning to bring back its ‘Zomato Gold’ programme.