End of an era: Dunzo co-founder Kabeer Biswas to quit

Kabeer Biswas, CEO and co-founder of Dunzo

Kabeer Biswas, co-founder and CEO of Dunzo, is set to move on after spending over a decade with the hyperlocal delivery company, people aware of the developments told Moneycontrol.

Biswas is the latest co-founder to leave the firm, after Mukund Jha, Dalvir Suri and Ankur Agarwal quit the company, as reported exclusively by Moneycontrol earlier.

To be sure, Dunzo will continue to operate in its current state. “Biswas has resigned from the company and his resignation has been accepted, a formal announcement can be expected over the coming weeks,” one the persons cited above told Moneycontrol.

Biswas did not immediately reply to Moneycontrol's request for comments. His next move was not immediately known.

Biswas had also registered a new entity, Nexavise Solutions, along with Ankur Agarwal in June 2024, as per filings with the MCA. While the duo had plans to run another company together, after they had started Dunzo, they have shelved those plans now.

He has stepped down at a time when Dunzo has been strapped for cash and not cleared pending salaries to employees in over 18 months, including Biswas who has not drawn a salary in around 20 months, sources told Moneycontrol.

The company had even engaged with Swiggy and BigBasket for a potential buy out but the talks did not materialise.

Over the past months, Dunzo's investors have all given up their board seat. From Lightrock to Google, no members remain on the company's board.  

ALSO READ: Dunzo’s fall from grace: From a first-mover in 2014 to struggle for survival in 2023

Dunzo was started back in 2014 as a WhatsApp group but went on to raise millions of dollars from the likes of Reliance, Google, Blume Ventures, Lightrock and several others. While it grew to into a formidable hyperlocal player that competed with Swiggy Instamart, Tata BigBasket, Zomato-owned Blinkit, excessive cash burn and an intensifying competitive landscape took a toll on the company.

While it raised capital every year from 2015 through to 2022, the going got tougher for the company once rivals such as Zepto entered the space and gained market share. The company did secure more debt since 2022, it could not keep operations afloat which resulted in several defaults, including skipping salary payments to staffers on multiple occasions, as reported by Moneycontrol. It was even sued by vendors and received multiple legal notices which made it even more difficult to continue running operations.

Dunzo struggled to grow even as quick commerce was picking up back in 2021 and 2022 and then sales have flatlined even at a time when the rapid delivery space has become red-hot with every major player launching one new service after the other.

Top players such as Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto, have gone from delivering just groceries to food and even ambulances. Competition in the space is only intensifying and rivals are entering a land grab mode as investors also jump onto the quick commerce bandwagon.

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