In yet another top-level exit, business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce unicorn Udaan’s chief financial officer (CFO) Aditya Pande has stepped down from his role after an over three-year stint to pursue other opportunities.
In a statement, the startup said that Pande played a pivotal role in shaping its financial strategy, including implementation of resilient financial systems, fundraising, and fiscal management.
Pande joined Udaan in 2021 from IndiGo where he had also served as the CFO. He also had a stint at General Electric as the regional CFO, according to his LinkedIn profile.
“I would like to thank Aditya for his invaluable contribution to the organisation and wish him the very best in his future endeavours,” Udaan cofounder and CEO Vaibhav Gupta said.
The development comes months after Udaan saw the exit of Vivek Gupta, the chief business officer of its Essentials business, following the startup’s decision to merge the Essentials business with the Discretionary business. The rejig also saw Udaan’s chief technology officer Gaurav Bhalotia quitting the startup.
Meanwhile, Udaan said it has restructured its senior leadership following the exit of Pande.
The startup’s group finance controller Kiran Thadimarri has been elevated as a member of the executive management team. In his new role, Thadimarri will report to cofounder Vaibhav Gupta.
Besides, Thadimarri will hold additional responsibility of handling treasury operations, corporate finance and corporate audit, along with his existing responsibilities.
Among other leadership changes, head of corporate strategy and investor relations Vishnu Menon will take on the additional responsibility of business finance. He will continue to report to the chief executive.
Both Thadimarri and Menon will work towards further strengthening the financial and governance practices at Udaan with the objective of enabling the company to achieve operational profitability and public market readiness in the next 12-18 months.
While Thadimarri has been associated with Udaan for close to three years, Menon has been associated with it for four years.
Founded in 2016 by Vaibhav Gupta, Sujeet Kumar and Amod Malviya, Udaan is a B2B ecommerce platform spanning across categories including lifestyle, electronics, home & kitchen, staples, fruits & vegetables, FMCG, pharma, toys and general merchandise.
The startup claims to have onboarded over 3 Mn retailers and thousands of sellers on the platform across India. It enables supply chain & logistics operations, focused on B2B trade and built on strong technology, for daily delivery across 1,200 cities and 12,500 pin codes through its in-house logistics system called UdaanExpress.
The latest development comes days after Udaan’s valuation was reported to have dropped by nearly half to around $1.8 Bn.
It also laid off about 120 employees in December last year within a week after raising $340 Mn in its Series E funding round.
Udaan’s operating revenue declined 43% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 5,609.3 Cr in FY23, while net loss fell 33.5% YoY to INR 2,076 Cr.
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