Udaan loses CTO and CBO amid rejig

Founded in 2016, Udaan has raised over $1.5 billion from investors like Tencent, DST Global and several others.

Udaan, the e-B2B (business-to-business) platform, has announced organisational changes as two of its senior executives, including CTO Gaurav Bhalotia, prepare to step away from day-to-day operations.

The Bengaluru-based startup said it is merging its Essentials business with the Discretionary business, which means categories like FMCG, staples, and pharmacy categories will now be integrated with the division that sells general merchandise, lifestyle and electronics-related products.

The decision to merge the two starkly different units comes at a time when Vivek Gupta, who led Udaan's Essentials business, will be moving away from an operating role but will remain an advisor to the board.

Gupta, the chief business officer (Essentials) has been with Udaan for a little over three years but now will be taking a backseat. He joined the Lightspeed-backed startup after nearly 22 years at Procter & Gamble.

The merged business unit (BU), of Essentials and Discretionary, will now be led by Uday Bhaskar, who was only heading the Discretionary business until the recent announcement.

Spin-off
Even as Udaan announced the merger, the company said its 'Product & Engineering' division will now be spun off into two different businesses namely 'Product' and 'Engineering'.

The decision to create new different units is likely because Gaurav Bhalotia, who led Udaan's Tech function until now, will be leaving the company.

“As we move forward in our journey, we are taking various steps to further optimise synergies across businesses to be able to offer better value to our customers, which is key to leveraging the huge $100 billion eB2B opportunity that Bharat offers,” said Vaibhav Gupta, co-founder & CEO, Udaan, said in a press release on September 4.

The move is aimed at reinforcing the progress that Udaan has made with its business model and strategy, the company said.

"On behalf of Udaan, I would like to thank both Vivek (Gupta) and Gaurav (Bhalotia) for their invaluable contribution to the organisation and wish them good luck for their future endeavours,” CEO Gupta added.

Founded in 2016, Udaan has raised over $1.5 billion from investors like Tencent, DST Global and several others. It was last valued at $3.1 billion as per Tracxn, a private markets data provider.