Dunzo co-founder Mukund Jha set to exit startup

Mukund Jha and Davlvir Suri along with their co-founder Ankur Aggarwal have no ownership in Dunzo.

Mukund Jha, co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) of Dunzo is set to leave the on-demand delivery startup, making him the second co-founder to depart in a week, people aware of the developments told Moneycontrol.

This comes a day after Moneycontrol reported that Dalvir Suri, co-founder of embattled startup Dunzo, is exiting the startup that he joined in 2015.

While Jha’s next move is not clear yet, company insiders say he has stepped back from daily operations and a formal announcement could come in the following weeks. The company has already informed certain employees about Jha’s exit.

The company has however denied that Jha is leaving. “Mukund remains an integral part of Dunzo’s leadership team. While we are restructuring the org with new leaders driving key mandates, Mukund will continue to be an important part of the strategic leadership team guiding and directing Dunzo’s future roadmap,” a Dunzo spokesperson told Moneycontrol.

On October 3, news publication The Morning Context also reported that Jha had exited Dunzo's board on September 1. In August, Suri, Vaidhehi Ravindran from Lightrock and Reliance Retail's Rajendra Kamath and Ashwin Khasgiwala had all stepped down from the company's board, the report added.

Only CEO Biswas, Siddharth Talwar from Lightbox and Hongjim Kim from STIC Investments remain on the startup's board.

As reported earlier, Jha and Suri along with their co-founder Ankur Aggarwal have no ownership in Dunzo. The three of them only drew salaries and had ESOPs (employee stock ownership plans), like several other employees, which Dunzo has delayed several times in the past.

At the same time, Dunzi co-founder and CEO Kabeer Biswas owns about 3.6 percent of Dunzo, making him the only co-founder who holds a stake. Jha’s departure comes at a time when Dunzo is in the midst of a fundraise and is lining up capital to the tune of $25-30 million to keep operations afloat, with Reliance Retail likely to increase its stake in the company.

As it prepares to raise money, it has cut costs massively by shutting dark stores and letting go of over 500 employees. 

Jha, who joined the hyperlocal delivery player in 2015, played a key role in letting employees know about layoffs and delays in salaries.

He held several company-wide townhalls and fielded questions from upset employees. Jha also told employees recently that Dunzo had not raised funding earlier because it was protecting its valuation.

Dunzo has raised close to $500 million since 2015 from Reliance, Google, Lightrock, Lightbox, Blume Ventures and several others. Reliance is the largest shareholder with a 25.8 percent stake in the company, and Google was the second-largest with around 19 percent ownership in Dunzo, according to Tracxn, a private markets data provider.

Disclaimer: Moneycontrol is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.