Ahead of IPO, Swiggy hires Flipkart, Amazon execs for next phase of growth

In April this year, the food tech giant received nod from shareholders for a $1.2-billion initial public offering (IPO), according to regulatory filings with the registrar of companies (RoC).

Quick commerce and food delivery firm Swiggy on July 22 announced new appointments at senior levels to strengthen its leadership team, underlying the growing importance of quick commerce and Swiggy Instamart.

The company has appointed Himavant Srikrishna Kurnala as the senior vice president (SVP) and head of product at Swiggy Instamart.

Himavant worked previously at Reliance Retail, where he held the position of chief product officer for JioMart, according to the company statement, adding that he was responsible for overseeing product, program, design, analytics, and marketplace trust functions.

He has a career spanning over 20 years with experiences at various companies, including Amazon, Microsoft, and Reliance.

Swiggy has also appointed Mayank Rajvaidya as the vice president of fruits and vegetables, which is a crucial category for the quick commerce arm of the company.

Rajvaidya too comes with nearly 20 years of experience in category management and operations, and has led Amazon’s consumables private brands in India. He was also behind the launch and the expansion of Amazon Pantry to more than 300 cities, the statement said.

“His expertise will elevate Swiggy Instamart’s trajectory in the fresh produce segment,” Swiggy said.

In other appointments, Manu Sasidharan, who has over 12 years of experience in the e-commerce sector, has joined the company as an associate vice president of the firm’s FMCG segment,

He was previously with Flipkart and Cleartrip.

Moreover, Kumar Rahul, the new AVP of business development has joined Lynk by Swiggy and brings over 14 years of experience in digital transformation, marketing, and e-commerce. He has previously worked with companies like Google, Disney+Hotstar, and Flipkart, Swiggy said.

Girish Menon, head of HR at Swiggy, said, "Businesses across Swiggy are growing positively, continually adding new categories and use cases for our consumers. We are thrilled to welcome leaders like Himavant, Mayank, Manu and Rahul whose experience in scaling and managing large
organizations will be invaluable as we enter the next growth phase.”

In April this year, the food tech giant received nod from shareholders for a $1.2-billion initial public offering (IPO), according to regulatory filings with the registrar of companies (RoC).

The Bengaluru-based company plans to raise up to Rs 3,750 crore (around $450 million) through a fresh issue and up to Rs 6,664 crore (around $800 million) as an offer-for-sale (OFS) component, the filings further showed.

Meanwhile, Economic Times on July 22 reported that Amazon India has approached Swiggy for a potential deal involving its quick commerce arm Instamart.

“Amazon has shown interest in either acquiring a stake during the ongoing pre-IPO placement or proposing a buyout for Instamart. However, multiple roadblocks exist at the moment,” a source told ET.

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