Kabeer Biswas, co-founder and former CEO of hyperlocal quick commerce startup Dunzo, who had joined Walmart-owned Flipkart as Vice President (VP) to lead its rapid delivery arm, Flipkart Minutes, has resigned from his position, people familiar with the development told Moneycontrol.
Moneycontrol had first reported Biswas was leaving Dunzo on January 2 and then, on January 5, exclusively reported he is set to join Flipkart Minutes. He officially began his stint at Flipkart on January 9 and is quitting in about 10 months since he joined the e-commerce giant.
Flipkart is expected to announce his depature officially in the coming days, and will pick an internal candidate to succeed Biswas, sources said. Biswas reported to Hemant Badri, Senior Vice President, Flipkart.
Flipkart did confirmed the developments to Moneycontrol. "Kabeer Biswas, Vice President, Flipkart Minutes has decided to move on from the company to pursue other opportunities. He has contributed notably to the growth of Flipkart Minutes and strengthening of customer experience," a company spokesperson said.
Kunal Gupta, Vice President at Flipkart, will now lead Flipkart Minutes to ensure a seamless continuation of the business and operations, the spokesperson added. Gupta has been with Flipkart for over a decade.
Where is Kabeer Biswas heading to next?
While Biswas' next move was not immediately known, he is likely to dabble in quick commerce and may even consider joining one of the top rapid delivery firms, sources indicated. They however added that nothing has been finalised yet and his plans may change.
How did Flipkart Minutes fare under Kabeer Biswas?
Biswas, in under a year, scaled Flipkart Minutes from near zero orders a day to over 3 lakh orders today. It expanded to multiple cities, including to Guwahati in Assam, as he focussed on growing the quick commerce business for Walmart in India.
The foray also helped Flipkart bring 50 million new visitors over the (past) year onto the Flipkart platform.
Flipkart Minutes scaled its dark store network to around 800, as per SVP Badri, taking it closer to its rivals such as Blinkit, Swiggy’s Instamart, Zepto, Big Basket and others which have 800-1,000 stores each.
"...the model we envisioned is panning out. So, long story short, I am quite surprised, in a positive way,” Badri, Biswas' boss, had told Moneycontrol earlier.
Biswas has quit at a time when the competitive intensity is increasing in quick commerce, largely on the back of a massive $450 million fundraise by Zepto. Other players, like Blinkit, Swiggy's Instamart, BigBasket, Amazon Now and more are set to ramp up spends and acquire customers to grow their business.
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