Zoomcar President Adarsh Menon Quits Within Six Months

Zoomcar’s global president Adarsh Menon has quit the company, days after the Nasdaq-listed company terminated its cofounder Greg Moran from the position of its CEO.

As per the company’s recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Menon resigned from the company, effective June 30, 2024.

“On June 26, 2024, Mr. Adarsh Menon, the President of Zoomcar Holdings, Inc. (the “Company”), resigned from his employment effective June 30, 2024. Mr. Menon’s departure was not in connection with any disagreements with the Company,” the company said in the filing.

Menon’s departure from the self-driving car marketplace startup comes months after his appointment in January this year to lead the business and operations of Zoomcar.

Menon brought with him over two decades of experience of working in top positions in companies like Flipkart and Hindustan Unilever.

While Zoomcar named Hiroshi Nishijima as its interim CEO after Moran’s termination, it is not yet clear who would head the business and operations of the company as its global president after Menon’s exit.

Zoomcar declined to comment on Inc42’s queries on the development. 

Founded by Moran and David Back in 2013, Zoomcar is a marketplace for renting self-driving cars. The startup connects hosts with guests, who choose from a selection of cars for use at affordable prices. 

The Bengaluru-based startup started trading on the Nasdaq on December 29 last year, following a SPAC merger with Cayman Islands-registered Innovative International Acquisition Corp. 

The startup’s net revenue declined 19% to $2.4 Mn in the three months ended December 31, 2023 from $3 Mn in the year-ago quarter, hurt by a decline in gross bookings due to lower number of days booked. 

Zoomcar is yet to post its FY24 earnings results.

However, the company, in a recent filing with the SEC, said it anticipates “significant changes” in its results of operations for the year ended March 31, 2024 (FY24) compared to the previous year. 

Zoomcar expects its total revenue to rise to about $9.8 Mn in FY24 from $8.6 Mn in the previous fiscal year. It also expects to report a significant decline in net loss to $34 Mn in FY24 from $62 Mn in the previous fiscal.

“The reason for the increase in revenue is that the company prioritised higher duration per trip bookings to seek to maximise revenue, combined with a reduction in incentive payments due to company hosts by converting to a direct settlement process. The primary reason for the decrease in net loss is that the company reduced operating costs over the 2024 fiscal year. This reduction in operating costs was driven by overall company-wide efforts to achieve enhanced operational and service delivery efficiency beginning in January 2023,” said Zoomcar in the SEC filing last week.

It said that the key drivers of the cost savings during the fiscal included reduction in personnel costs, closure of certain subsidiaries, workforce optimisation, and cost rationalisation for its India-based call centres.

Shares of Zoomcar have tumbled almost 100% since listing on Nasdaq and ended the last trading session at $0.19.