Swiggy top-level churn continues: Vice President Karan Arora quits to start up

Karan Arora, Vice President and Head of Supply Chain Management (SCM) has left the firm after a three-and-a-half year stint with the food delivery major.

Swiggy’s top-level churn continues as yet another senior executive departs. Karan Arora, Vice President and Head of Supply Chain Management (SCM) has left the firm after a three-and-a-half year stint with the food delivery major.

With this decision, Arora joins a growing list of VPs and senior vice presidents (SVPs) who have left Swiggy over the past 12 months. It started in April 2023 when its former chief technology officer (CTO) Dale Vaz quit start his own venture. Then, a month later, in May, Ashish Lingamneni, VP, head of brand and product marketing, also left the company. Lingamneni’s exit came weeks after Nishad Kenkre, VP, head of revenue and growth, Instamart had departed.

Similarly, Anuj Rathi, Sidharth Satpathy and Karthik Gurumurthy are the other top executives who have left Swiggy. While some moves are still unknown, a bunch of the executives are leaving to startup.

In this case, Arora will be joining Karthik Gurumurthy, the former Swiggy Instamart head, in building Convenio. Moneycontrol was first to report in November 2023 that Gurumurthy was moving on to start his own chain of offline stores. The startup even raised $3 million from Matrix Partners, as reported by Moneycontrol in January.

“After 3.5 years of building Swiggy Instamart, this exhilarating journey of mine comes to an end…I believe e-commerce gives us a non linear platform for growth but what I've also learnt is that disruptions in this space can be even quicker…Joining hands with Karthik Gurumurthy and co-founding something exciting,” Arora said in a LinkedIn post on April 3.

Bhupesh Pangti, VP of Supply Chain, has been handed over Arora's responsibilities. Pangti has been with the company since 2021.

"During his tenure of over 3.5 years with Swiggy, Karan has helped in building Swiggy Instamart. As he embarks on his entrepreneurial journey, we extend our best wishes and full support from the Swiggy team," a Swiggy spokesperson said in response to Moneycontrol's queries.

VCs love startup operators 

The exits come at a time when several VC funds are chasing startup operators and choosing to back them, over others. Their ability to attract talent and experience in scaling a new-age company makes it easier for them to raise capital and start up on their own.