Foodpanda hires Gautam Balijepalli as strategy head

An alumnus of IIT Madras and London Business School, Balijepalli  joins the team with a strong entrepreneurial background having co-founded CartPerk Technologies. He has also been an investor in a food startup, WarmOven.

"With Gautam coming on board, we intend to bring pertinent changes in our strategic direction and create the right intervention points for the industry to innovate and grow. His professional experience and industry knowledge will be great sources of insights for the goals we have set out to achieve for restaurant partners, delivery riders and consumers,"  said Pranay Jivrajka, CEO, Foodpanda India.

Foodpanda aims to capitalize on the growth opportunities through deep partnerships with key restaurants and cloud kitchens and by expanding its delivery network. With recent funds allocation, Foodpanda is working on building a seamless experience for all its stakeholders - partner restaurants, riders, and end consumers – and creating a significant long-term business value.

"The food tech industry is rapidly changing globally. With 1.3 billion people and only 2 percent of total food orders placed online, India is a market with massive potential. With that context, leveraging best practices will be our top priority to create value for all stakeholders, including consumers and restaurant partners," said Balijepalli.

Ola acquired Foodpanda's India business from Germany-based Delivery Hero Group in exchange of its stock in December and also committed a fund infusion of Rs 1,300 crore.

Foodpanda currently claims to be having menus from over 20,000 restaurants across over 150 cities in India.